Testing the genotoxicity, cytotoxicity, and oxidative stress of cadmium and nickel and their additive effect in male mice

Abstract

The present study was aimed to investigate the ability of cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) to induce genotoxicity, cytotoxicity, and oxidative stress in bone marrow cells of male mice. Aneuploidy and chromosomal aberrations (CA) showed that Cd is a stronger mutagen than Ni. Cd and Ni increased significantly the incidences of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (PCEs). Also, the ratio of polychromatic erythrocytes to normochromatic erythrocytes (PCE/NCE) suggests that treatment with higher doses of the two metals increased the cytotoxicity. Numerical chromosomal aberrations increased hypoploidy with the treatment which reached two to three times of the frequency of hyperploidy. The results showed that both Cd and Ni are aneugenic that act on kinetochores and cause malsegregation of chromosomes as well as being clastogenic. Both Cd and Ni increased single-break aberrations and also Cd and Ni were found to induce significant DNA damage in mouse bone marrow cells as assessed by the comet assay. In addition to the cytotoxicity results, biochemical analysis in bone marrow revealed a dose-dependent increase of oxidative stress markers. According to the results obtained, genotoxicity and cytotoxicity effects of cadmium and nickel in vivo are dose-dependent and are associated with oxidative stress and their combined effect is less than their expected additive effect, and it could be concluded that there are no synergistic effects resulting from the combined application of both metals.