Alteration of glycosaminoglycans induced by cadmium in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells

Alteration of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in cultured bovine aortic smooth muscle cells after exposure to cadmium was investigated. It was revealed that cadmium increased the accumulation of GAGs metabolically labeled with ³H]glucosamine but decreased that with ³⁵S]sulfate in the cell fraction, the cell surface fraction and the medium fraction. This suggested that cadmium stimulated the biosynthesis of GAGs but inhibited their sulfation in the cells. A similar alteration was observed in cadmium-treated human aortic smooth muscle cell layer. Of tested cations including cadmium, bismuth, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc, only cadmium stimulated ³H]glucosamine incorporation, with a strong inhibition of the ³⁵S]sulfate incorporation in the bovine cells. Characterization of bovine smooth muscle GAGs showed that the cadmium-induced increase in the ³H]glucosamine incorporation was mainly observed in heparan sulfate; the inhibition of the ³⁵S]sulfate incorporation occurred non-selectively. Cadmium accumulated in bovine vascular smooth muscle cells in a dose-dependent manner with an increase in the leakage of lactate dehydrogenase into the medium. The present data suggest that vascular smooth muscle cells respond to the cytotoxicity of cadmium and promote the GAG synthesis with a reduction of their sulfation. It is postulated that this response may be a defensive one to the damage of the vascular tissue caused by cadmium but would be a component of the metal-induced atherosclerosis. Received: 19 January 1994/Accepted: 5 May 1994