Abstract:

To investigate the cytotoxicity and its underlying mechanisms of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) to barfin flounder ovary (BFO) cells, in vitro cultured BFO cells were treated with CdCl2 at different concentrations and investigated toxicologically and cytologically in this study. Cytotoxicity results showed that the BFO cells were very sensitive to CdCl2, and their cell growth were inhibited in a concentration dependent manner by CdCl2 at a concentration above 10μmol／L. CdCl2 at a concentration above 40μmol／L could reduce the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSTPx), and elevate the content of melondialdehyde (MDA) in BFO cells significantly. Mechanism results showed that typical morphological changes similar to those of apoptotic cells were found in BFO cells after treated with CdCl2 at a concentration above 40μmol／L. Obvious elevation of plasma membrane permeability in AO／EB double fluorescent staining and comet tails in single cell gel electrophoresis were both found in CdCl2 treated BFO cells. And the apoptotic ratio of BFO cells, the length and fluorescent intensity of comet tails from BFO cells were increased with the concentration of CdCl2. In conclusion, CdCl2 has significant cytotoxicity to BFO cells which was achieved by inducing cell apoptosis, which has laid a solid foundation for studies of the cytotoxicity and toxic mechanisms of cadmium and the other heavy metals.

Key words: cadmium chloride; barfin flounder ovary cell line; cytotoxicity; apoptosis