Abstract
This study were performed to investigate effect of dietary cadmium(Cd) and protein levels on growth, body protein metabolism and Cd toxicity in growing rats. Forty eight male rats of Sprague-Dawley weighing 113$\pm$2g were blocked into 6 groups accoridng to body weight. Dietary protein were given at the levels of 7, 15 and 40% of diet and Cd (200ppm)were either added or not. The result obtained were summerized as follow; 1) Food intake, weight gain, FER PER, liver and kidney weight, weight and length of bones, hematocrit, and hemoglobin content in Cd-added groups were low than those in Cd-free groups. 2) Serum total protein showed no significant difference with Cd addition, but it was significantly lower in low protein diet groups. Liver protein in Cd-added groups was lower than Cd-free groups, and was tend to be increased with increasing dietary protein level. 3) Daily urinary and fecal nitrogen excretions in Cd-added groups were lower than Cd-free groups, and were increased with increasing dietary protein level. 4) Cadmium contents in blood, liver, kidney, and femur were tend to be decreased with increasing dietary protein level. Especially, Cd content in kidney of Cd-added groups was significantly decreased with increasing dietary protein level. 5) Daily urinary and fecal Cd excretions were tend to be increased with increasing dietary protein level, and Cd-added-high protein diet group showed the highest Cd excretion among the Cd-added groups, Cd absorption ration and Cd retention ratio were tend to be decreased with increasing dietary protein level.