The clearance of cadmium aerosols after inhalation exposure

CdO and CdCl2 aerosols were inhaled by two groups of rats and their subsequent clearance behaviour was studied. The half-life of the long term lung clearance rates was identical for both compounds, namely 67 days. For CdO, an initial faster clearance was observed, whereas the initial clearance of CdCl2 did not differ from its long term clearance rate, resulting in a relatively higher Cd burden of the lung in the CdCl2 study. Cd liver and kidney concentrations were also higher in the CdCl2 study, originating from a high resorption rate duringthe time of the exposure.