Microsatellite instability at three microsatellite loci (D6mit3, D9mit2 and D15Mgh1) located in different common fragile sites of rats exposed to cadmium

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential element and is a widespread environmental pollutant. Exposure to cadmium can result in cytotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. Mutagenesis is an indicative of genetic instability and can be assayed using microsatellites instability. The aim of the present study is to investigate; based on the rat model, the effects of oral acute (single 8.8 mg/kg BW, 1/10 LD50) and sub-chronic (2.93 mg/kg BW, 1/30 LD50, for 4 weeks) doses of cadmium chloride on microsatellite instability at D6mit3, D9mit2 and D15Mgh1 loci, which are located in three different common fragile sites (6q21, 9q32-q33 and 15p14, respectively), within rat genome. In the acute study, no microsatellite instability (MSI) was observed in all the three tested loci (D6mit3, D9mit2 and D15Mgh1). In the sub-chronic study, the MSI were observed in the three studied loci and was in the form of deletion of 2–3 bp or addition of 3–6 bp. These finding may indicate the sensitivity of microsatellite sequences located at the fragile sites and the sensitivity of the simple sequence repeats (SSRs) assay for the detection of small variations in DNA sequence. However, additional chronic toxicological trials are needed in order to assess genotoxic effects of chronic exposure to Cd.