Cadmium Inhibition of RNA Metabolism in Murine Lymphocytes

AbstractCadmium, as Cd2+, has become an environmental pollutant of significant proportions. We and others have reported that cadmium in in vitro culture can alter several metabolic parameters including the synthesis of RNA. In the present study, a detailed examination of the mechanism of inhibition was undertaken. Cadmium, at 30 µM, decreased cellular uptake of uridine as well as incorporation into RNA up to 60 µM. Above this concentration, uridine incorporation fell to zero while that associated with the lymphocytes remained at a significantly higher value. LPS caused an increase in the fraction of the precursor incorporated into RNA. In the presence of cadmium, the fraction inzorporated by non-stimulated cells fell continually while in the stimulated cells, the fraction had increased at 10 µM above which it dropped until at the highest concentration it was as for the unstimulated lymphocytes. It was found that up to 30 µM the ability of LPS to stimulate the lymphocytes in the presence of cadmium was enh...