STUDY OF PLASMA AND CYTOSOLIC GLUTATHIONE IN CADMIUM TOXICITY

Background: Cadmium causes oxidative stress because this metal lacerate antioxidant defense system in intracellular as well as extra cellular compartments resulting in depletion of reduced glutathione or GSH contents in these areas. This study was designed to estimate spectrophotometrically the depletion of GSH in plasma/ cytosolic fraction of human blood for which Ellman’s method was used. Material Methods: This experimental study was conducted in PhD Research Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gomal University D.I.Khan during the month of December 2012. Fresh human volunteer’s 12000μl venous blood was taken, for which 4 healthy volunteers age 22-27 years with no previous history of illness or long illness (having no history of any disease or abnormality) were selected. Plasma/cytosolic fraction GSH was exposed to various concentrations of cadmium and paired t-Test was applied to test the statistical significance. Results: It was found that even lowest most concentration of cadmium has statistically significantly (p 0.001) depleted GSH up to 3.662 μM (75.15%) in plasma and 3.408 μM (67.73%) in cytosolic fraction with respect to plasma and cytosolic fraction GSH control respectively. Moreover with the passage of time this drop in GSH level was greater showing that with the passage of time cadmium is more toxic toward antioxidant defense system as cadmium is accumulated in human body for a long period of time. Conclusion: Our study suggests that cadmium has strong chemical binding affinity towards reduced form of glutathione resulting in depletion of this master antioxidant thus rendering human body to have compromised immune system