In vitro and in vivo chromosomal aberrations induced by megazol

With the re-emergence of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) on the one hand, which are increasingly resistant to current therapies, and the stage-dependent effectiveness or even the prohibitive cost of these therapies on the other hand, megazol, a 5-nitroimidazole thiadiazole highly active against various trypanosomal species, was assessed for its genotoxic potential. Very little information has become available until now. Two batches of megazol were provided by two different suppliers: Far-Manguinhos, a part of the Fiocruz foundation, under the Brazilian Minister of Health, and Delphia, a French company. These two batches, obtained by different synthetic routes, were studied by means of the in vitro micronucleus assay on L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells, in its microscale version. Both batches of magazol displayed a strong genotoxic activity in this screening assay. A second batch from Delphia was then investigated by use of two tests, i.e. the in vitro metaphase analysis with human lymphocytes and the in vivo micronucleus test in rat bone-marrow. Megazol was shown to be a potent inducer of in vitro and in vivo chromosomal aberrations. Although megazol is a potent trypanocidal agent and is orally bio-available, its toxicity dictates that it should not be developed further for the treatment of HAT and Chagas disease. All development work has therefore been discontinued.     

In vitro and in vivo chromosomal aberrations induced by megazol

With the re-emergence of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) on the one hand, which are increasingly resistant to current therapies, and the stage-dependent effectiveness or even the prohibitive cost of these therapies on the other hand, megazol, a 5-nitroimidazole thiadiazole highly active against various trypanosomal species, was assessed for its genotoxic potential. Very little information has become available until now. Two batches of megazol were provided by two different suppliers: Far-Manguinhos, a part of the Fiocruz foundation, under the Brazilian Minister of Health, and Delphia, a French company. These two batches, obtained by different synthetic routes, were studied by means of the in vitro micronucleus assay on L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells, in its microscale version. Both batches of magazol displayed a strong genotoxic activity in this screening assay. A second batch from Delphia was then investigated by use of two tests, i.e. the in vitro metaphase analysis with human lymphocytes and the in vivo micronucleus test in rat bone-marrow. Megazol was shown to be a potent inducer of in vitro and in vivo chromosomal aberrations. Although megazol is a potent trypanocidal agent and is orally bio-available, its toxicity dictates that it should not be developed further for the treatment of HAT and Chagas disease. All development work has therefore been discontinued.     

Induction of chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes by cyclophosphamide action in vivo and in vitro

The dose dependences of chromosome aberrations rate were investigated in lymphocytes of oncological patients after cyclophosphamide (CP) administration. It was shown that the rate of chromosome aberrations and the number of disruptions per cell in vivo and in vitro increases exponentially with the dose. At the same time, the parameters of regression equations coincide. This evidences that CP has the similar effect in vivo and in vitro.     

The effect of ethylnitrosourea on chromosome aberrations in vitro and in vivo

Summary The effect of ENU on (A) human chromosomes from blood lymphocyte cultures in vitro, and on (B) rat and mouse bone marrow chromosomes in vivo, was investigated. Doses of 25, 50, 100 and 200 g/ml were tested in vitro and cells with chromosome breakage were found to be dose dependent. Chromosome damage was also dependent on time; maximum damage was seen when cells were treated 2–6 hrs before harvest.Two doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg were studied in rat and mouse in vivo and a dose effect could be shown in both species. The highest number of abnormal cells was found 6 hrs after treatment; there was a sharp decrease at 18 hrs and thereafter. Types of aberrations were also analyzed, in both in vitro and in vivo studies.     

In vitro induction of chromosome damage by sulphasalazine in human lymphocytes

Two different endpoints, sister-chromatid exchange and micronucleus induction, were measured in human peripheral blood lymphocytes stimulated to divide in short-term in vitro cultures. The cultures were exposed to sulphasalazine and 6 of its metabolites for 72 h in the absence of any exogenous metabolic activation system. Analysis of the sister-chromatid exchange and micronuclei frequencies clearly indicates that sulphasalazine itself is capable of inducing both sister-chromatid exchange and micronuclei while sulphapyridine and its acetylated metabolites only induce sister-chromatid exchange. 5-Aminosalicylic acid, the therapeutic moiety of sulphasalazine, and its acetylated metabolite did not induce either sister-chromatid exchange or micronuclei at the concentrations tested. The data from these in vitro experiments are discussed in relation to the previously reported elevations in sister-chromatid exchange and micronucleus frequencies in inflammatory bowel disease patients receiving sulphasalazine therapy.     

The effect of ethylnitrosourea on chromosome aberrations in vitro and in vivo.

The effect of ENU on (A) human chromosomes from blood lymphocyte cultures in vitro, and on (B) rat and mouse bone marrow chromosomes in vivo, was investigated. Doses of 25, 50, 100 and 200 mug/ml were tested in vitro and cells with chromosome breakage were found to be dose dependent. Chromosome damage was also dependent on time; maximum damage was seen when cells were treated 2--6 hrs before harvest. Two doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg were studied in rat and mouse in vivo and a dose effect could be shown in both species. The highest number of abnormal cells was found 6 hrs after treatment; there was a sharp decrease at 18 hrs and thereafer. Types of aberrations were also analyzed, in both in vitro and in vivo studies.     

Induction of chromosome aberrations in vitro by phenolphthalein: mechanistic studies

Phenolphthalein induces tumors in rodents but because it is negative in assays for mutation in Salmonella and in mammalian cells, for DNA adducts and for DNA strand breaks, its primary mechanism does not seem to be DNA damage. Chromosome aberration (Ab) induction by phenolphthalein in vitro is associated with marked cytotoxicity. At very high doses, phenolphthalein induces weak increases in micronuclei (MN) in mouse bone marrow; a larger response is seen with chronic treatment. All this suggests genotoxicity is a secondary effect that may not occur at lower doses. In heterozygous TSG-p53((R)) mice, phenolphthalein induces lymphomas and also MN, many with kinetochores (K), implying chromosome loss. Induction of aneuploidy would be compatible with the loss of the normal p53 gene seen in the lymphomas.Here we address some of the postulated mechanisms of genotoxicity in vitro, including metabolic activation, inhibition of thymidylate synthetase, cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, DNA damage and aneuploidy. We show clearly that phenolphthalein does not require metabolic activation by S9 to induce Abs. Inhibition of thymidylate synthetase is an unlikely mechanism, since thymidine did not prevent Ab induction by phenolphthalein. Phenolphthalein dramatically inhibited DNA synthesis, in common with many non-DNA reactive chemicals that induce Abs at cytotoxic doses. Phenolphthalein strongly enhances levels of intracellular oxygen radicals (ROS). The radical scavenger DMSO suppresses phenolphthalein-induced toxicity and Abs whereas H(2)O(2) potentiates them, suggesting a role for peroxidative activation. Phenolphthalein did not produce DNA strand breaks in rat hepatocytes or DNA adducts in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. All the evidence points to an indirect mechanism for Abs that is unlikely to operate at low doses of phenolphthalein. We also found that phenolphthalein induces mitotic abnormalities and MN with kinetochores in vitro. These are also enhanced by H(2)O(2) and suppressed by DMSO. Our findings suggest that induction of Abs in vitro is a high-dose effect in oxidatively stressed cells and may thus have a threshold. There may be more than one mechanism operating in vitro and in vivo, possibly indirect genotoxicity at high doses and also chromosome loss, both of which would likely have a threshold.     

Comparison of the frequency of chromosome aberrations induced by thiophosphamide in rabbit lymphocytes in vitro and in vivo

Rabbit lymphocytes were treated with thiophosphamide in vivo and in vitro. In-vitro doses were calculated by multiplying thiophosphamide concentrations by the time of treatment (the doses ranged within 0-1500 mg/min/ml). In-vivo doses were calculated as integral of thiophosphamide concentration function from the time of administration till the time of blood sample collection (the doses ranged within 0-1900 mg/min/ml). It was shown that with the dose increase the rate of chromosome aberrations and the number of disruptions per cell rise exponentially in vivo and in vitro. At the same time the parameters of regression equations coincide. This evidences that thiophosphamide produces the same effect in vivo and in vitro.     

Induction of chromosome aberrations and sister-chromatid exchanges by caprolactam in vitro

Caprolactam (CAP) induced chromosome aberrations in whole-blood cultures of human lymphocytes at 50 mM without metabolic activation (24-h treatment) and at 200 mM in the presence of rat liver S9 mix (1-h treatment). CAP also produced a dose-dependent increase in polyploid cells, the effect being statistically significant at 25 and 50 mM without S9 mix and at 100 and 200 mM with S9 mix. Without metabolic activation, there was an increase in hypodiploid cells at 50 mM and hyperdiploid cells at 12.5 mM. In Chinese hamster ovary cells, CAP produced a marginal elevation of sister-chromatid exchanges at 125 mM in the presence of S9 mix (4-h treatment). The results show that CAP is able to induce cytogenetic changes in vitro at very high toxic concentrations.     

In vitro irradiation of blood with 99mTc: evaluation of dose and chromosome aberrations in irradiated lymphocytes.

The use of ionizing radiation for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes in medicine represents the principal source of artificial radiation to humans. Calculation of radiation dose is essential to the analysis of risks (biological effects) and benefits in any application, including nuclear medicine. The dose assessment in many cases is not necessarily straightforward. Many radiopharmaceuticals are labelled with radionuclides that undergo not only gamma-emission but also emission of Auger and internal conversion electrons. A typical example is technetium-99m (99mTc), which is used in more than 80% of nuclear medicine applications. In this work, in vitro studies have been carried out to evaluate the dose delivered to lymphocytes by human serum albumin microspheres (HSAM) labelled with 99mTc. Experiments were performed in order to score unstable chromosomal aberrations induced by 99mTc-HSAM, using conventional cytogenetic techniques. Henceforth, the relationship between activities introduced into blood samples and induced chromosomal aberrations were evaluated. To assess the dose absorbed in lymphocytes, electron and photon transport was performed in a simple model representing the system used for irradiating the cells using the MCNP Monte Carlo code. In this report, analysis of dose-effect curve demonstrates a linear quadratic response for unstable chromosome aberrations.     

In vitro and in vivo induction of nitric oxide by murine macrophages stimulated with Bordetella pertussis

Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) exhibits potent antimicrobial activity in vitro. The function of NO in host defenses in vivo, however, is presently unclear. Experiments were undertaken to determine the production of NO in vitro from murine peritoneal and alveolar macrophages, and murine macrophage cell line (J774A.1) stimulated with Bordetella pertussis or pertussis toxin (PT). In addition, we determined circulating levels of NO in the sera and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids of mice infected intranasally with B. pertussis . The results of this study showed that in vitro murine peritoneal macrophages induce production of NO in response to B. pertussis and PT. In addition, murine macrophage cell line, J774A.1 also induces NO production after stimulation with B. pertussis . NO production was also detected in alveolar macrophages from mice infected intranasally with B. pertussis . Finally, a significant increment of circulating levels of NO was noted, in the sera but not in the BAL fluids, of mice infected intranasally with B. pertussis .     

Comparison of the level of sister chromatid exchanges and chromosome aberrations induced by chemical mutagens in vitro and in vivo

The paper presents results of a study of a dose dependence of induction of SCE and chromosomal aberrations at the exposure of human lymphocytes in vitro and bone marrow cells of mice in vivo to 5 alkylating chemicals. The efficiency of SCE induction in vitro is found to be 300-30 times as high as that of arising of chromosomal aberrations. The same regularity is observed in experiments in vivo, but the ratio is reduced to 60-20 times.     

In vitro degradation of zearalenone by Bacillus subtilis

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a non-steroidal estrogen produced by many Fusarium species in cereals and other plants, and is frequently implicated in safety of foods and feeds. A ZEN-degrading microorganism has been isolated and identified as a Bacillus subtilis subspecies. It degraded 99% ZEN (1 mg kg⁻¹) in liquid medium after 24 h and more than 95% of ZEN (0.25 mg kg⁻¹) could be degraded after 48 h in a solid-state fermentation. This isolate can thus be used to decontaminate raw materials, like grains, to reduce the mycotoxin concentration.     

Proceedings: Differential induction of chromosome aberrations in mammalian cell lines.

Mutagenesis was studied in repair- and recombination-deficient strains of Haemophilus influenzae after treatment with N-nitrosocarbaryl (NC). Three different strains of H. influenzae carrying mutations affecting excision-repair of UV-induced pyrimidine dimers exhibited normal repair of premutational lesions (as detected by decreased mutation yield resulting from post-treatment DNA synthesis delay) and normal nonreplicative mutation fixation. This indicates that neither of these phenomena are caused by the same repair mechanism that removes UV-induced pyrimidine dimers from the DNA.The recombination-deficient mutant rec1 is apparently deficient in the replication-dependent mode of NC-induced mutation fixation. This conclusion is based on the following results: (1) NC-induced mutagenesis is lower in the rec1 strain than in rec⁺ cells. (2) Repair of premutational lesions (which depends on the existence of replication-dependent mutation fixation for its detection) was not detected in the rec1 strain. (3) When nonreplicative mutation fixation and final mutation frequency were measured in the same experiment, about $\text{1}\text{4}$ to $\text{1}\text{3}$ of the final mutation yield could be accounted for by nonreplicative mutation fixation in the rec⁺ strain, whereas all of the mutation could be accounted for in the rec1 strain by the nonreplicative mutation fixation. (4) When mutation fixation in strain dna9 rec1 was followed at the permissive (36°) and nonpermissive (41°) temperatures, it became apparent that in the rec1 strain replication-dependent mutation fixation occurs at early times, but these newly fixed mutations are unstable and disappear at later times, leaving only the mutations fixed by the nonreplicative process.The rec1 strain exhibits normal repair of NC-induced single-strand breaks or alkali-labile bonds in the DNA labeled before treatment, but is slow in joining discontinuities present in DNA synthesized after treatment. The results are consistent with the idea that in NC-treated H. influenzae cells the replication-dependent mode of mutation fixation occurs by error-prone joining of interruptions present in the DNA synthesized after treatment. The possibility still exists, however, that during DNA replication mispairing occurs opposite certain alkylation-induced lesions and that mutations arising during replication of strain rec1 later disappear as a result of degradation of newly synthesized DNA, which is excessive in this strain.     

In vivo induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and chromosomal aberrations (CAs) by lynestrenol

Genotoxicity study of synthetic progestin lynestrenol, was carried out on mouse bone marrow cells using sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and chromosomal aberrations (CAs) as parameters. Lynestrenol was studied at three different doses (6.87, 13.75 and 27.50 mg/kg body wt.). SCE and CA increased significantly as compared to normal control when treated with lynestrenol at 13.75 and 27.50 mg/kg body wt. The present results suggest that lynestrenol has both a genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in mouse bone marrow cells.