Male Wistar rats were injected intraperitoneally or intravenously with various doses of cadmium acetate (i.p.: 1 mg, 2 mg or 4 mg Cd/kg body weight, i.v.: 1 mg, 2 mg or 3 mg Cd/kg body weight). Twenty-four hours following the injection, functional activities of the classical (CH50) and alternative complement pathways (APCH50), and the complement component C3 concentrations in the sera were significantly reduced in the Cd-treated rats. Histopathological examinations of the livers and kidneys, as well as laboratory tests for serum transaminases (SGOT, SGPT) and serum urea nitrogen (SUN), revealed that cadmium acetate induced moderate to severe hepatic injury depending on the dose administered, whereas kidney lesions were less evident
