[Expression of ZIP8 in vascular endothelial cells after exposure to cadmium]

Blood vessels are composed of endothelial cells and other cell types and they are ubiquitously present in every organ. It is important to study the toxicity of cadmium to endothelial cells for understanding organic cadmium toxicity. Although vascular toxicity of cadmium has been studied previously, little is known about the underlying toxicity mechanism. Cadmium-sensitive mice have been reported to show high expression of zinc transporter, ZIP8, in endothelial cells of the testis vasculature, which produces genetic difference in the response to the testicular cadmium toxicity. ZIP8 is involved in the transport of zinc, manganese, and cadmium from the extracellular space or intracellular compartments into the cytosol. In this report, we have described how cadmium is one of the inducers of ZIP8 expression in vascular endothelial cells, and that cadmium cytotoxicity partly depends on the ZIP8 expression levels.