ABSTRACT
The cadmium concentration in liver and kidney from fetuses and neonates is very low but increases markedly with age. In contrast to blood and urine, analysis of cadmium in liver and kidney from adult humans will give accurate results using most methods as the concentrations usually are relatively high. Cadmium concentration is higher in the kidney cortex than in the medulla. The concentration of cadmium was found to decrease from the outer layers to the inner, and the cadmium concentration in outer cortex was about twice that in medulla. The variations in average kidney cortex cadmium concentration between different countries may thus be partially explained by differences in smoking habits. The cadmium concentration in muscle is of special interest since muscle constitutes a large proportion of the body mass, about 40% of the body weight of an adult man according to the International Commission on Radiation Protection.
