Sex-and Smoking-related Differences in Cadmium (Cd) Levels in Kidney of Thai Cadavers without History of Occupational Exposure to Cd

Abstract

Background and Objective: Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal which is ranked as the one of ten chemicals with major public health concerns. There have been so far no studies on the Cd levels in human organs in Thailand. Therefore, this study was attempted to investigate the levels of Cd in the kidney, which are known to be the most targets of Cd accumulation in 90 Thai cadavers without experience of occupational exposure.

Method: Samples of the kidney acid digest were analyzed for Cd with flame atomic absorption spectrometer (FAAS). The cadavers were divided into Three groups as female non-smokers, male non-smoker and male smokers. Each group was composed of 30 cadavers. None of female smokers were included in the analysis because of very few numbers of female smokers in Thailand. The study was further attempted to examine whether any relations are present among tissue Cd-level, sex and smoking habit.

Result: As a result, the Cd-level (µg/gm wet tissue weight) was remarkably high in the kidney (17.30±5.1 µg/gm wet tissue weight) in all the cadavers. On the other hand, the Cd-level was significantly higher in the kidney of non-smoking females (20.26±3.55 µg/g wet tissue weight) than non-smoking males (11.23±3.60 µg/g wet tissue weight), (p<0.05). Furthermore, it was significant higher of Cd-level in the kidney of male smokers (20.40±3.66 µg/g wet tissue weight) than those of male non-smokers (11.25±3.69 µg/g wet tissue weight) (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The present finding represents the first data-bases of Cd-levels directly measured in organs of general human population in Thailand. The Cd-levels show some differences in sex and smoking habit.

Key words: Cadmium, Thailand, Kidney, smoking