The administration of small amounts of mercuric compounds to pregnant rats, injected with 75Se in the form of selenite, markedly increased their retention of 75Se and simultaneously decreased the 75Se content in their foetuses. The 75Se concentration in the blood and liver of foetuses from these rats was much lower than in the blood and liver of foetuses from control mothers injected with [75Se]selenite only (or receiving zinc chloride instead ofmercuric chloride). Retention of 75Se in the maternal organs and the passage of 75Se into the foetuses was partially dependent on the dose of mercury. In the doses used in these experiments, administration of mercuric salts did not result in foetal death nor in any significant effect on the weight of the offspring. In lactating rats, the administration ofmercuric salts had a similar effect on the passage of 75Se into the milk. This resulted in a much smaller 75Se content in the newborn and suckling young of mothers exposed to small amounts of mercuric compounds during pregnancy or lactation than in control animals.
One single injection of cadmium salts, in a dose sufficient to produce complete testicular necrosis (Pa\l =r%v\\l =i ' \zek & Z\l =a' \ho\l =r%v\,1956; Pa\l =r%v\\l =i ' \zek,1957, 1960) results, when administered to pregnant rats, in a complete destruction of the foetal part of the placentae and death of the foetuses (Pa\l =r%v\\l =i ' \zek,1964). The placental damage is specific for cadmium and a constant phenomenon already at earlier stages of pregnancy; however, in addition to this, during the last 4 days of pregnancy of rats the pathologic changes in the placentae and foetuses are accompanied by additional pathologic changes affecting the maternal organism: during the last 4 days of pregnancy the administration of cadmium salts\p=m-\ina dose well tolerated by non-gravid or post-partum rats\p=m-\is highly lethal not only for foetuses but for a very high proportion of pregnant rats, producing here pathologic changes specific for this period of pregnancy and quite unusual for cadmium intoxication in non-gravid rats (Pa\l =r%v\\l =i ' \zek,1965). Simultaneous administration of selenite is highly efficient in preventing the testicular necrosis after injection of cadmium salt (Kar,
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