In this study, we planned to test toxic effects of cadmium, aluminum either alone or combined with each other on sensitive organs as kidney and liver. The cadmium alone decreased the animal’s body weight. Meanwhile, aluminum did not affect the changes in body weight of cadmium treated animals; adding the zinc significantly reduced the loss of body weight. Serum creatinine and urea were significantly lower in treated group than in control group. Cadmium aluminum or combination of them resulted in a significant increase in serum GPT and GOT activity. Zinc did not prevent the changes caused by aluminum, however, the changes resulted by cadmium intoxication were almost healed or ameliorated by zinc. Treating with Zn alone resulted in drastic effects on kidney tissues more than either cadmium or aluminum. Treating with cadmium or aluminum resulted in infiltration of the liver parenchyma with lymphocytes, fibrosis, micro vesicular steatosis of the hepatocytes for both and appearance of many phagocytic cells, pyknotic cells and vacuolation for cadmium. Combined cadmium and aluminum treatment resulted in less damage than cadmium alone with exception of fatty degeneration. Unexpectedly, zinc induced acute cell vacuolation and steatosis. Cadmium and aluminum combined together did not worsen the situation as expected but was less damaging than cadmium alone, which suggests a possible synergistic effect of combination. Meanwhile, zinc failed to protect kidney from aluminum intoxication, which strengthens the suggestion of two different pathways of cadmium and aluminum intoxication. This finding meant that cadmium is more hepatotoxic than aluminum

Drug delivery through the vagina is a novel and effective approach for treating embryonic diseases. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) currently are used as drug delivery systems. The safety of MNPs for use with embryonic tissues remains unclear. We used pregnant mice to investigate the possible toxicity of MNPs toward neonatal liver at three embryonic ages using histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques. MNPs were instilled through the vaginas of pregnant mice at days 12 (E12), 15 (E15) and 17 (E17) after fertilization. We found MNPs in the neonatal liver parenchyma after delivery of the pups on day 20. We observed that MNPs caused mild apoptosis of hepatocytes, cytoplasmic vacuolation and lymphocytic infiltration in the neonatal liver after treatment at E15 compared to instillation at E12 and E17. We observed also that MNPs increased the production of caspase proteins and tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 proteins, which are indicators of apoptosis, in the neonatal liver after instillation of MNPs at E15 compared to instillation at E12 and E17. MNPs also increased the number of collagen fibers and the amounts of connective tissue growth factors in the neonatal liver parenchyma after instillation at E15 compared to instillation at E12 and E17. The general carbohydrates in the neonatal liver were decreased in a time-dependent manner after instillation at E17, E15 and E12 owing to the presence of MNPs in the parenchyma. Overall, we determined that MNPs were mildly toxic to neonatal liver.