Table 4.
Effect of the extract from the berries of Aronia melanocarpa (AE) and/or cadmium (Cd) on the degree of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and Cd binding to metallothionein (MT) in the kidney 1,2,3.
| Metals Binding to MT in the Kidney | Effect of AE Alone | 1 mg Cd/kg Diet + AE | 5 mg Cd/kg Diet + AE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Effect of Cd Alone | Cd + AE | Effect of Cd Alone | Cd + AE | ||||
| Effect of Cd + AE | Effect of AE | Effect of Cd + AE | Effect of AE | ||||
| 3 months | |||||||
| Zn/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↔ | ↔ | ↗ 57% | ↔ | ↓ 33% | ↗ 73% |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↔ | ↓ 40% | ↔ | ↗ 2.1-fold | ↔ | ↔ | ↔ |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↑ 7.4-fold | ↑ 8.5-fold | ↔ | ↑ 25.2-fold | ↑ 39.1-fold | ↗ 55% |
| Me/(Me-MT) | ↔ | ↔ | ↔ | ↗ 65% | ↔ | ↔ | ↗ 56% |
| 10 months | |||||||
| Zn/(MT × 7) | ↓ 22% | ↓ 41% | ↓ 24% | ↗ 29% | ↓ 47% | ↓ 35% | ↔ |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↓ 20% | ↓ 53% | ↓ 29% | ↗ 50% | ↓ 28% | ↓ 45% | ↔ |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↑ 13.3-fold | ↑ 33.6-fold | ↔ | ↑ 47.9-fold | ↑ 51.3-fold | ↔ |
| Me/(Me-MT) | ↓ 20% | ↓ 42% | ↓ 23% | ↗ 32% | ↓ 39% | ↓ 31% | ↔ |
| 17 months | |||||||
| Zn/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↓ 26% | ↓ 24% | ↗ 67% | ↑ 48% | ↑ 29% | ↘ 13% |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↔ | ↓ 53% | ↔ | ↗ 2.2-fold | ↓ 46% | ↔ | ↗ 91% |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↔ | ↑ 33.6-fold | ↔ | ↑ 139-fold | ↑ 223-fold | ↗ 61% |
| Me/(Me-MT) | ↔ | ↓ 29% | ↑ 23% | ↗ 26% | ↓ 21% | ↑ 42% | ↗ 81% |
| 24 months | |||||||
| Zn/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↓ 42% | ↓ 29% | ↔ | ↓ 56% | ↓ 30% | ↗ 90% |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↔ | ↓ 34% | ↔ | ↔ | ↓ 58% | ↓ 32% | ↗ 62% |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↑ 12.1-fold | ↑ 17.1-fold | ↔ | ↑ 41.1-fold | ↑ 51.3-fold | ↗ 25% |
| Me/(Me-MT) | ↔ | ↓ 39% | ↓ 26% | ↔ | ↓ 50% | ↓ 24% | ↗ 54% |
1 The rats received the 0.1% aqueous AE or not and Cd in their diet at the concentration of 0, 1, and 5 mg/kg. 2 In this table, only statistically significant (p < 0.05) changes compared to the control group (↓, percentage decrease; ↑, percentage increase or a factor of increase) and the respective group that received Cd alone (↘, percentage decrease; ↗, percentage increase or a factor of increase) are indicated. ↔, without change (p > 0.05) compared to the control group; ↔, without change (p > 0.05) compared to the respective group treated with Cd alone. The Zn/(MT × 7) in the kidney of the control group reached 1.039 ± 0.05, 1.364 ± 0.08, 1.286 ± 0.069, and 1.830 ± 0.106, after 3, 10, 17, and 24 months, respectively, whereas the Cu/(MT × 12) was 0.257 ± 0.016, 0.232 ± 0.016, 0.284 ± 0.015, and 0.289 ± 0.022. The Cd/(MT × 7) reached 0.001 ± 0.0001, 0.002 ± 0.0002, 0.001 ± 0.0001, and 0.003 ± 0.0003, while the Me/(Me-MT) was 1.297 ± 0.062, 1.598 ± 0.095, 1.571 ± 0.083, and 2.122 ± 0.125 after 3, 10, 17, and 24 months, respectively. 3 An increase in the Zn/(MT × 7), Cu/(MT × 12), Cd/(MT × 7), or Me/Me-MT ratios compared to the control group or any other experimental group indicates a rise in the pool of MT-unbound metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, or all of the metals, respectively), while a decrease in these ratios reflects a drop in the pool of non-MT-bound metals. Zn/(MT × 7), the pool of MT-unbound Zn; Cu/(MT × 12), the pool of the MT-unbound Cu; Cd/(MT × 7), the pool of the MT-unbound Cd; Me/(Me-MT), the pool of MT-unbound metals (Zn, Cu, and Cd).