Comparative evaluation of cadmium-induced oxidative stress in camel and bovine erythrocytes

Abstract

Objectives: Erythrocytes or red blood cells (RBCs) are the most abundant cells in blood. They transport oxygen from lungs to tissues and bring back carbon dioxide from tissues to lungs. Being non-nucleated and lacking the cellular organelles, they have been widely used for in vitro toxicity studies. The present study was carried out to study the comparative in vitro toxicity of cadmium (Cd) on RBCs of camel and cow. Methods: Both cow and camel whole blood samples were exposed to 0, 10, 50 and 100 μM of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) and the tubes were incubated at 37 °C for 24 h. The erythrocytes from both the species were separated and used for biochemical determinations for markers of oxidative stress. Results: Cd caused a concentration dependent decrease in bovine glutathione (GSH) content and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. However, in the case of camel RBCs, the decrease in GSH content and SOD activity were observed at medium and high concentrations only. Cd exposure also resulted in significant inhibition of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione S-transferase in both bovine and camel RBCs. The GPx in camel RBCs was inhibited only at a high concentration of Cd. Various concentrations of Cd inhibited the catalase in bovine RBCs only, without any significant inhibition of catalase in camel RBCs. Medium and high concentrations of Cd caused an increase in lipid peroxidation in bovine RBCs. In the case of camel RBCs, none of the used concentrations of Cd caused lipid peroxidation. Conclusions: The present study concludes that in vitro incubation of camel and bovine RBCs with Cd causes an impairment of their antioxidant system and therefore increases their susceptibility to hemolysis. However, the camel RBCs appear to have an increased resistance to oxidative stress generated by cadmium exposure.

Keywords

• Cadmium
• Oxidative stress
• Antioxidant enzymes
• Red blood cells
• Cow
• Camel