Table 5.
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 duodenum 1,2,3.
| Metals Binding to MT in the Duodenum | 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) | ↔ | ↑ 64% | ↔ | ↗ 81% | ↑ 81% | ↔ | ↗ 62% | |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↔ | ↓ 39% | ↔ | ↗ 66% | ↓ 41% | ↔ | ↗ 42% | |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↑ 2.1-fold | ↑ 3.8-fold | ↗ 78% | ↑ 7.2-fold | ↑ 10.7-fold | ↗ 50% | |
| Me/(Me-MT) | ↔ | ↔ | ↔ | ↗ 65% | ↔ | ↔ | ↗ 56% | |
| 10 months | ||||||||
| Zn/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↓ 43% | ↓ 28% | ↔ | ↓ 55% | ↓ 26% | ↗ 64% | |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↔ | ↓ 47% | ↓ 32% | ↔ | ↓ 58% | ↓ 34% | ↗ 57% | |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↑ 6.2-fold | ↑ 9.7-fold | ↗ 57% | ↑ 11.6-fold | ↑ 19.9-fold | ↗ 72% | |
| Me/(Me-MT) | ↓ 22% | ↓ 42% | ↓ 23% | ↗ 32% | ↓ 39% | ↓ 31% | ↔ | |
| 17 months | ||||||||
| Zn/(MT × 7) | ↓ 28% | ↓ 55% | ↔ | ↗ 2.4-fold | ↓ 62% | ↓ 29% | ↗ 88% | |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↓ 23% | ↓ 48% | ↔ | ↗ 2.1-fold | ↓ 58% | ↓ 24% | ↗ 80% | |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↑ 5.3-fold | ↑ 12.5-fold | ↗ 2.4-fold | ↑16.5-fold | ↑ 22.6-fold | ↗ 37% | |
| Me/(Me-MT) | ↔ | ↓ 29% | ↑ 23% | ↗ 74% | ↓ 21% | ↓ 42% | ↗ 81% | |
| 24 months | ||||||||
| Zn/(MT × 7) | ↓ 22% | ↓ 52% | ↓ 49% | ↔ | ↓ 58% | ↓ 20% | ↗ 90% | |
| Cu/(MT × 12) | ↓ 20% | ↓ 48% | ↓ 46% | ↔ | ↓ 56% | ↔ | ↗ 95% | |
| Cd/(MT × 7) | ↔ | ↔ | ↑ 3.9-fold | ↔ | ↑7.5-fold | ↑ 15.4-fold | ↗ 2-fold | |
| 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 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 duodenum of the control group reached 3.490 ± 0.160, 2.792 ± 0.207, 2.915 ± 0.424, and 2.375 ± 0.234, after 3, 10, 17, and 24 months, respectively, whereas the Cu/(MT x 12) was reached 0.140 ± 0.005, 0.095 ± 0.007, 0.128 ± 0.017, and 0.091 ± 0.009. The Cd/(MT × 7) reached 0.003 ± 0.0002, 0.0012 ± 0.0001, 0.001 ± 0.0001, and 0.0017 ± 0.0002, while the Me/(Me-MT) was 3.633 ± 0.164, 2.888 ± 0.214, 3.044 ± 0.442, and 2.468 ± 0.243 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 MT-unbound Cu; Cd/(MT × 7), the pool of MT-unbound Cd; Me/(Me-MT), the pool of MT-unbound metals (Zn, Cu, and Cd).