Avaliação das concentrações mínimas de cádmio capazes de induzir efeitos citotóxicos e genotóxicos sobre cultura de linfócitos humanos

Abstract

Cadmium is a non-essential heavy metal toxic for humans, and it is found naturally in all environmental components. It is also present in industrial waste and smoke, tobacco smoke, and contaminated food and water. Although there are established limits to insune the safety of cadmium in the environment, food, drinking water and soil used in agriculture, the minimum concentration capable of inducing cellular damage, especially in human cells, has yet to be established. Thus, this work investigated the minimum concentrations of this metal capable of inducing cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in human lymphocytes culture exposuring them to different concentrations of cadmium (1, 2.5 and 5 μg/mL). Cell proliferation, viability and micronucleus frequency were evaluated. Data were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and complemented by Tukey's test. Data demonstrated that cadmium induced a decrease in cell viability and proliferation at the two highest concentrations and increased micronucleus frequency at all concentrations tested. These data urges for a broader discussion of levels of human exposure to metal.