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Dietary Cadmium, Zinc and Copper: Effects on Chick Lung Morphology and Elastin Cross-linking¹

Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

Day-old White Leghorn cockerels were divided into seven dietary groups and fed one of the following diets: 1) a casein-based basal diet; 2) a casein-based diet supplemented with 10 mg/kg cadmium, 3) 100 mg/kg cadmium, 4) or 800 mg/kg zinc; 5) a casein-based diet pair-fed to the 100 mg/kg Cd group; 6) a spray-dried nonfat milk-based diet with no added copper, or 7) a spray-dried nonfat milk-based diet supplemented with 5 mg/kg copper. At termination (5 weeks), the birds were killed, and the effects of the diets on selected features of lung composition and morphology were assessed. Body weights were reduced in the 100 mg/kg Cd, pair-fed, and Cu-deficient groups when compared to their controls (casein-based or milk-based copper-supplemented diets). There were no differences in lung weights (expressed relative to metabolic body size) among the groups, although copper deficiency did result in a slight decrease in the dry to wet weight ratio of lung. Lung elastin content and the desmosine content in elastin were significantly lower in the Cu-deficient group and tended to be lower in the group fed 800 ppm Zn. Significant alterations (enlargement of the tertiary bronchial lumen) in morphology were also observed in lungs from both the 100 mg/kg Cd and Cu-deficient groups. Alteration in lung morphology observed in the 100 mg/kg Cd group could not be explained by changes in the elastin content of lung.

KEY WORDS: • cadmium • zinc • copper • elastin • lung

¹ Funded in part by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants HL 18917 and HL 26620. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to Ms. Jo Goudey for technical assistance in the trace element analysis.

² To whom requests for reprints should be sent.

Manuscript received 16 February 1982.