Mutagenicity studies of cadmium chloride in mice

Cadmium chloride [CdCl2] was tested for its mutagenicity in Swiss albino mice by the dominant lethal mutation test and the micronuclei test singly or in combination with either nitrosoguanidine [NTG] or ascorbic acid. The results obtained showed that cadmium chloride is a weak mutagen when compared with NTG as a positive control. However, cadmium chloride [CdCl2] and NTG in combination showed a significant increase in the dominant lethal mutations when compared with the effect of either CdCl2 or NTG individually. A statistically significant increase of the frequency of micronucleated erythrocytes was also noticed when CdCl2 was combined with either NTG or ascorbic acid compared with CdCl2 individually