Morphological investigations in experimental cases of chronic cadmium poisoning in pregnant sheep
1998
Stoev, S.D. | Manov, V. | Vassilev, N. (Thracian Univ., Stara Zagora (Bulgaria). Department of Pathomorphology)
An experiment was made to reproduce chronic cadmium intoxication during the pregnancy of three-year-old sheep by weekly treatments (per os) with 1.2 mg/kg b.w. cadmium chloridum over 6 months. Morphological investigations were made of the internal organs and uterus in the sheep killed at the end of the 6-month period as well as of the foetuses after abortions observed at the beginning of the fifth month of the pregancy in all pregnant sheep. Macroscopically a pronounced hyperaemia in the liver, kidney, brain envelopes and mesenterium, as well as single haemorrhages on the epicardium, and oedema in the lung were established. Histological examinations showed that the major lesions were observed in the kidneys: endothelial and slight mesangial proliferation in the glomeruli, and granular or hydropic degeneration in the epithelium of proximal convoluted tubules. Granular or vacuolar degeneration in the hepatocytes, pericapillary oedema, perivascular mononuclear cell infiltration, activation of capillary endothelium and Kupffer cells were the main changes in the liver. Oedema and degenerative changes were observed in the brain, Purkinje's cells and the molecular layer of the cerebellum. Hyperplasia and proliferation of alveolar epithelial cells and perivascular or peribronchial mononuclear cell infiltration were established in the lung. Degenerative changes were observed in the medulla and zona glomerularis of the adrenal glands. The damage described in internal organs was observed also in the aborted foetuses, but degenerative and circulatory changes were predominant. A chronic fibrous endometritis and a lot of siderocytes were established in the uterus of most of the aborted sheep
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