Small intestine morphology of rats-adolescents with chronic cadmium sulfate intoxication

Cadmium accumulation in children is a serious problem for residents of cosmopolitan cities. Cadmium has carcinogenic, gonadotropic, embryotropic, mutagenic, nephrotoxic and genotoxic effects. Small intestine as a natural biological barrier reflects the ability of the mammals to resist the effects of such an aggressive exotoxicant as cadmium. The aim of the study is to reveal morphological changes in the wall of the small intestine in rats-adolescents with chronic cadmium sulfate intoxication. Materials and Methods. The experiment was carried out on 4-week Wistar males-adolescents that were administered cadmium sulfate solution 0.5 mg/kg daily for 21 days. Then, the authors examined the wall of the small intestine. It was stained with hematoxylin-eosin and azur-2-eosin. They used such methods of investigation as light microscopy and morphometry. SPSS® software version 17.0 was used for statistical data processing, as well as nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-test. Results. The authors found out the decrease in thickness of all layers of the small intestine wall...