Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;53(1):1108-1117.
doi: 10.1080/07853890.2021.1947519.

Cadmium exposure induces cardiac glucometabolic dysregulation and lipid accumulation independent of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity

Olufemi I Oluranti  1 , Ebunoluwa A Agboola  1 , Nteimam E Fubara  1 , Mercy O Ajayi  1 , Olugbenga S Michael  2
Affiliations

Cadmium exposure induces cardiac glucometabolic dysregulation and lipid accumulation independent of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity

Olufemi I Oluranti et al. Ann Med. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Context: Suppressed glucose metabolism, elevated fatty acid metabolism and lipid deposition within myocardial cells are the key pathological features of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Studies have associated cadmium exposure with metabolic disturbances.

Objective: To examine the effects of cadmium exposure on cardiac glucose homeostasis and lipid accumulation in male Wistar rats.

Methods: Male Wistar rats were treated for 21 days as (n = 5): Control, cadmium chloride Cd5 (5 mg/kg, p.o.), cadmium chloride Cd30 (30 mg/kg, p.o).

Results: The fasting serum insulin level in this study decreased significantly. Pyruvate and hexokinase activity reduced significantly in the Cd5 group while no significant change in lactate and glycogen levels. The activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme significantly increased with an increasing dosage of cadmium. The free fatty acid, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the heart increased significantly with increasing dosage of cadmium when compared with the control. Lipoprotein lipase activity in the heart showed no difference in the Cd5 group but a reduction in the activity in the Cd30 group was observed.

Conclusion: This study indicates that cadmium exposure interferes with cardiac substrate handling resulting in impaired glucometabolic regulation and lipid accumulation which could reduce cardiac efficiency.

Keywords: Cadmium; cardiac; glucose; lipotoxicity; metabolism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Effect of cadmium on relative organ (heart) weight. The relative organ weight increased significantly (*p < 0.05) in the Cd30 group as compared to the control while it decreases significantly (#p < 0.05) in the Cd5 group when compared with the Cd30 group.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Effect of cadmium on serum insulin level. The insulin decreased significantly (**p < 0.01) in Cd5 and Cd30 groups compared with the control.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Effect of cadmium on serum glucose level. There is a significantly reduction (**p < 0.01) in the glucose level in both cadmium treated groups compared with the control.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Effect of cadmium on glycogen content in the heart. No observed significant changes in the glycogen content in the heart between the control and the treated groups.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Effect of cadmium of lactate level in the heart. There were no observable statistical changes in the lactate level in the heart between the control and the treated groups.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Effect of cadmium on cardiac pyruvate level. A significant reduction was observed in the Cd5 group when compared with the control while there was no change in the pyruvate level in the Cd30 group.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Effect of cadmium on hexokinase activity in the heart. Hexokinase activity reduced significantly (*p < 0.05) in the Cd5 group when compared with the control while the activity was not statistically different in the Cd30 group as against the control.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Effect of cadmium on cardiac pyruvate dehydrogenase activity. The activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme significantly increased with increasing dosage of cadmium (*p < 0.05 compared with the control, #p < 0.05 compared with the Cd30 group).
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
Effect of cadmium on cardiac free fatty acid level. The free fatty acid level in the heart increased significantly with an increasing dosage of cadmium when compared with the control (*p < 0.05).
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Effect of cadmium on cardiac total cholesterol level. There was an increase in the total cholesterol level in the heart as the dosage of cadmium increase. However, the increase was statistically significant (*p < 0.05) in the Cd30 group when compared with control.
Figure 11.
Figure 11.
Effect of cadmium on cardiac triglyceride level. The triglyceride level increased with increasing dosage of cadmium, although not statistically significant.
Figure 12.
Figure 12.
Effect of cadmium on cardiac phospholipid level. The phospholipid level in the heart of rat treated with cadmium decreased significantly with increasing dosage of cadmium (*p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001 when compared with the control; #p < 0.05 when compared with the Cd30 group).
Figure 13.
Figure 13.
Effect of cadmium on cardiac lipoprotein lipase activity. Lipoprotein lipase activity in the heart showed no difference in the Cd5 group compared with control but a statistical (*p < 0.05) reduction in the activity in the Cd30 group was observed compared with control.
Figure 14.
Figure 14.
Schematic diagram illustrating the likely pathway through which cadmium induces glucometabolic dysregulation. FFA: free fatty acid; TG: triglyceride; TC: total cholesterol.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Taegtmeyer H, Wilson CR, Razeghi P, et al. . Metabolic energetics and genetics in the heart. Ann NY Acad Sci. 2005;1047:208–218. - PubMed
    1. Abdurrachim D, Luiken JJFP, Nicolay K, et al. . Good and bad consequences of altered fatty acid metabolism in heart failure: evidence from mouse models. Cardiovasc Res. 2015;106(2):194–205. - PubMed
    1. Nagoshi T, Yoshimura M, Rosano GMC, et al. . Optimization of cardiac metabolism in heart failure. Curr Pharm Des. 2011;17(35):3846–3853. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Armoni M, Harel C, Bar-Yoseph F, et al. . Free fatty acids repress the GLUT4 gene expression in cardiac muscle via novel response elements. J Biol Chem. 2005;280(41):34786–34795. - PubMed
    1. Sambandam N, Lopaschuk GD.. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) control of fatty acid and glucose metabolism in the ischemic heart. Prog Lipid Res. 2003;42(3):238–256. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources