Electron microscopic results on the ventral prostate of the rat after CdCl2 administration. A contribution towards etiology of the cancer of the prostate

Abstract

The prostate epithelium of rats which received repeated cadmium chloride (CdCl2) injections showed a gradual disruption of structural differentiation. Electron microscopy studies revealed severe changes in the ultrastructure affecting all epithelial cell organelles, particularly the nuclei, rough endoplasmatic reticulum, the golgi apparatus, and mitochondria. The cells infiltrating the stroma contained secretory vacuoles and their nuclear evaginations on the invasion front showed similarities to ultrastructural pathological changes in man. Examinations of the ventral prostate following oral CdCl2 administration revealed changes ranging in severity up to dysplasia, but there was no evidence of carcinoma.

Mechanisms of cadmium toxicity in terrestrial pulmonates: Programmed cell death and metallothionein overload

“…These findings are in accordance with a series of studies describing ultrastructural changes of ER induced by Cd in rat liver [18,19] and mouse pancreatic acinar cells [20]. Moreover, comparable ultrastructural effects of Cd on the ER were described in prostate epithelium of rats [34] and midgut epithelial cells of collembola ( Tetrodontophora bielanensisthe ) [35]. We also noticed ring‐shaped structures composed of organic deposits within calcium granula (postdecalcification) to be more pronounced in calcium cells of metal‐treated snails (Fig.…”

Cadmium and prostate cancer

“…Interestingly, the primary cultures of rat ventral prostatic epithelial cells were highly sensitive to cadmium cytotoxicity prior to transformation. These findings are consistent with chronic rodent studies that uniformly show the ventral prostate as the target site for cadmium induction of prostatic tumors (Waalkes et al, 1988Waalkes & Rehm, 1992;Hoffmann et al, 1985aHoffmann et al, , 1985bHoffmann et al, , 1988Shirai et al, 1993b). Primary cultures of human prostatic epithelium did not undergo cadmium-induced transformation, although these samples were from abnormal tissues (BPH) obtained by prostatectomy (Terracio & Nachtigal, 1986).…”

“…In all studies thus far, cadmium induction of prostatic tumors occurs only within the ventral lobe of the rat prostate (Waalkes et al, 1988 Downloaded by [Cornell University Library] Waalkes & Rehm, 1992;Hoffmann et al, 1985aHoffmann et al, , 1985bHoffmann et al, , 1988Shirai et al, 1993b), while the cells of the dorsolateral prostate are apparently resistant to transformation by the metal. Thus the poor basal expression (Coogan et al, 1994b;Waalkes et al, 1992b;Tohyama et al, 1993;Suzuki et al, 1993;Timms & Hagen, 1989;Nishimura et al, 1990) and the lack of metalinduced stimulation (Coogan et al, 1994b;Waalkes et al, 1992b;Tohyama et al, 1993;Nishimura et al, 1990) of the MT gene specifically in the ventral lobe of the rat prostate correlate well with the lobe-specific sensitivity to the carcinogenic effects of cadmium.…”

“…In the control rats, 5 had simple hyperplasia (25%) and 1 rat had atypical hyperplasia (5%). Hoffmann et al (1988) also studied the effects of repeated ¡ntraprostatic injections of cadmium. Groups of rats were injected twice with 2.25 mg Cd/kg body weight or 3 times with 3.35 mg Cd/kg body weight into the right lobe of the ventral prostate.…”

Cadmium chloride-induced dysplastic changes in the ventral rat prostate: An immunohistochemical and quantitative study

“…Many descriptions of preneoplastic changes caused by cadmium or other carcinogenic agents have been reported [9±13, 17,26,27], but a detailed, quantitative evaluation of the immunohistochemical features was not accomplished to date.…”