Ultrastructural alterations in the hepatic parenchyma of the rat following acute cadmium intoxication.

Abstract

Subcutaneous injections and oral applications of cadmium chloride were administered to male Wistar rats. The animals were sacrificed after 48 hr and subjected to light and electron microscopic examination using the techniques of thin sectioning and freeze-fracture. Particularly remarkable in the light microscopic examination is the dilatation of the sinusoids accompanied by an increase in number and size of Kupffer cells and fatstoring cells. The hepatocytes were generally enlarged, attributable to a 50–70% infiltration by small to medium-sized fat droplets in the hepatocytes. In the electron microscopic examination of the thin sections, in addition to excessive proliferation and marked vesiculation of the SER, numerous alterations to the exterior and interior membranes of the mitochondria were observed. Furthermore, the RER, lysosomes and intracytoplasmic vacuoles exhibited alterations. Freeze-fracture replicas showed a disorganization of the zonulae occludentes and an increase in the number of size of gap junctions. The bile canaliculi dilated, showing irregular margins and side branches.