Urinary cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP in rats given three different concentrations of cadmium in the diet for one year

Male and female weanling rats of the SPF Fisher strain were fed purified diets containing three different levels of cadmium (0.008, 0.3, 30 micrograms Cd/g feed). Urine was collected from each animal 1 year after the start of the experiment, and cyclic AMP and cyclic AMP in the urine were measured by radioimmunoassay. Urinary excretion of cyclic AMP and GMP changed in proportion to the intake of Cd. The ratio of cyclic AMP: cyclic GMP, which combined the changes of these two cyclic nucleotides, increased with Cd intake, and these relationships were statistically significantly different in males and females.