Chronic cadmium (Cd) toxicity is a significant health concern, and the mechanism of long-term low-dose Cd exposure on bone has not been fully elucidated till date. This study aimed to assess the association between rat mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and long-term Cd exposure through 38-week intake of CdCl2 at 1 and 2 mg/kg body weight (bw). Increased gene expression of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and decreased gene expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) were observed. Fold change of RANKL gene expression (fold change = 1.97) and OPG gene expression (fold change = 1.72) showed statistically significant differences at dose 2 mg/kg bw. Decreased expression of key genes was observed during the early osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. The gene expression of Osterix in 1 mg/kg bw group was decreased by 3.70-fold, and the gene expressions of Osterix, Osteopontin, collagen type I alpha 2 chain (COL1a2) and runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) in 2 mg/kg bw group were decreased by 1.79, 1.67, 1.45 and 1.35-folds, respectively. Exposure to CdCl2 induced an increase in the renal Cd load, but only an adaptive response was observed, including increased expression of autophagy-related proteins LC3B and Beclin-1, autophagy receptor p62, and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1), which is an inducible isoform that releases in response to stress. There were no significant changes in the urinary low molecular weight proteins including N-acetyl-b-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), β2-microglobulin and albumin (U-Alb). Urinary calcium (Ca) excretion showed no increase, and no obvious renal histological changes. Taken together, these results indicated that the chronic CdCl2 exposure directly act on MSCs through RANKL/OPG pathway and downregulate the key genes involved in osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. The toxic effect of Cd on bone may occur in parallel to nephrotoxicity.
