The selective injurious response of testicular and epididymal blood vessels to cadmium and its prevention by zinc.

Abstract

In rats the testis and proximal end of the caput epididymis are specifically damaged by cadmium, by virtue of injury to their vascular supply, the internal spermatic artery and pampiniform plexus complex. This injury does not appear when animals are given protective amounts of zinc. Cadmium causes no injury to the distal end of the caput, the corpus and cauda epididymis and the vas deferens; the vascular system nourishing this area, the vasal vessels, also remains uninjured. Blood vessels in other body areas are undamaged. These studies furnish experimental evidence for the premise that endothelium may have a morphologic organ speciflcity'' with different reactions to various forms of injury. (auth)