In vitro effects of cadmium and nickel on glutathione, lipid peroxidation and glutathione S-transferase in human kidney

The in vitro effects of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) and nickel chloride (NiCl2) on reduced glutathione (GSH) level, lipid peroxidation (LP) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity towards the substrate 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) in human kidney 10,000 g supernatant were examined. For comparative purposes similar studies were also performed using rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant. No alteration was observed in GSH level of human or rat kidney as a result of either CdCl2 or NiCl2 at the concentrations studied (10(-3)-10(-7) M). In human kidney 10,000 g supernatant, CdCl2 and NiCl2 were not able to alter the LP at the concentrations studied. Similarly, apart from a slight decrease at a NICl2 concentration of 10(-3) M, no effect of either CdCl2 or NiCl2 was noted on the LP of rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant. In human kidney 10,000 g supernatant, CdCl2 at high concentrations (10(-4) and 10(-3) M) inhibited the metabolism of CDNB by GST, whereas in rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant the enzyme was inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by CdCl2. The degree of inhibition was similar in kidney 10,000 g supernatants of both human and rat, with 10(-4) M (about 28% inhibition) and 10(-3) M (about 44% inhibition) CdCl2. NiCl2, however, did not affect the metabolism of CDNB by GST in either human or rat kidney 10,000 g supernatant. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.