Development of a Cell Culture Model System for Routine Testing of Substances Inducing Oxidative Stress

Comparison of inhibitory effects between acetaminophen-glutathione conjugate and reduced glutathione in human glutathione reductase

Acetaminophen overdose is the most frequent cause of acute liver injury. The main mechanism of acetaminophen toxicity has been attributed to oxidation of acetaminophen. The oxidation product is very reactive and reacts with glutathione generating acetaminophen-glutathione conjugate (APAP-SG). Although this conjugate has been recognized to be generally nontoxic, we have found recently that APAP-SG could produce a toxic effect. Therefore, the aim of our study was to estimate the toxicity of purified APAP-SG by characterizing the inhibitory effect in human glutathione reductase (GR) and comparing that to the inhibitory effect of the natural inhibitor reduced glutathione. We used two types of human GR: recombinant and freshly purified from red blood cells. Our results show that GR was significantly inhibited in the presence of both APAP-SG and reduced glutathione. For example, the enzyme activity of recombinant and purified GR was reduced in the presence of 4 mm APAP-SG (with 0.5 mm glutathione disulfide) by 28% and 22%, respectively. The type of enzyme inhibition was observed to be competitive in the cases of both APAP-SG and glutathione. As glutathione inhibits GR activity in cells under physiological conditions, the rate of enzyme inhibition ought to be weaker in the case of glutathione depletion that is typical of acetaminophen overdose. Notably, however, enzyme activity likely remains inhibited due to the presence of APAP-SG, which might enhance the pro-oxidative status in the cell. We conclude that our finding could reflect some other pathological mechanism that may contribute to the toxicity of acetaminophen.

Dose- and time-dependent effects of sulfur mustard on antioxidant system in liver and brain of rat

This study investigates the dose- and time-dependent effects of sulfur mustard (SM) on antioxidant system and lipid peroxidation in liver and brain of rats. For this purpose, male Wistar rats were randomly divided into eight groups and treated as follows: group 1 as control and groups 2-8 as experimental groups that received SM (1-80 mg/kg) through intraperitoneal injection. Rats were killed after 2, 7 and 14 days of exposure. SM dose-dependently decreased body weight. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities in liver were significantly increased at SM doses lower than 10 mg/kg after 2 and 7 days of exposure. However, the recovery of these parameters was observed after 14 days. At these concentrations, no significant change in glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were observed. At doses higher than 10 mg/kg, SM significantly decreased SOD, CAT, glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and GST activities in liver and brain and decreased glutathione reductase (GR) activity in liver, which was associated with a depletion of GSH and increased MDA level. Present data indicate that the effect of SM is dose- and time-dependent and at higher doses (>10 mg/kg) induces an oxidative stress response by depleting the antioxidant defense systems and increasing lipid peroxidation in liver and brain of rats.

An improved in vitro model for testing the pulmonary toxicity of complex mixtures such as cigarette smoke

Numerous approaches have been employed for testing the biological activity of cigarette smoke in vitro. None of them has managed to expose cultured lung cells in a realistic manner to the complex gaseous and particulate mixture that constitutes cigarette smoke. We have devised a system that makes this possible. The system presented here enables the direct exposure of human lung cells to native, unmodified cigarette mainstream smoke. It consists of a smoking machine, a dilution device for the smoke, analytical devices for online monitoring and a specially adapted exposure module based on the Cultex** cell cultivation system that is equipped with a gas-exposure top. Due to the special design of the exposure device and the optimised exposure conditions, this equipment allows cultured human lung cells to be exposed to freshly generated cigarette mainstream smoke. Exploratory experiments revealed that the smoke could be diluted over a wide concentration range in a reproducible way with respect to gas and particulate phases, and also demonstrated reproducible particle deposition depending on smoke concentration. Furthermore, it was shown that the exposed cells maintained their viability. Native cigarette mainstream smoke induced dose-dependent cellular effects in exposed cells with respect to cellular viability (viable cell number monitored by tetrazolium salt cleavage) and intracellular parameters (ATP and glutathione content). Therefore, fresh, physically and chemically unmodified cigarette mainstream smoke can be tested using this novel system.

Novel approaches for studying pulmonary toxicity in vitro

The in vitro study of adverse cellular effects induced by inhaled pollutants poses a special problem due to the difficulties of exposing cultured cells of the respiratory tract directly to test atmospheres that can include complex gaseous and particulate mixtures. In general, there is no widely accepted in vitro exposure system. However, in vitro methods offer the unique possibility for use of human cells, developed and validated cell culture and exposure device (CULTEX(1)) using the principle of the air/liquid exposure technique. Cells of the respiratory tract are grown on porous membranes in transwell inserts. After removal of the medium, the cells can be treated on their superficial surfaces with the test atmosphere, and at the same time they are supplied with nutrients through the membrane below. In comparison with other experimental approaches, the goal of our studies is to analyze the biological effects of test atmospheres under environmental conditions, i.e. without humidifying the atmosphere or adding additional CO(2). The system used is small and flexible enough independent of a cultivation chamber and thus offers the opportunity for onsite study of indoor and outdoor atmospheres in the field. The efficacy of the exposure device has already been demonstrated in the analysis of dose-dependent cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of exposure of epithelial lung cells to complex mixtures such as native diesel exhaust and side-stream smoke.

A method for the in vitro exposure of human cells to environmental and complex gaseous mixtures: application to various types of atmosphere

The application of in vitro methods to the analysis of the effects of airborne materials is still limited, because there are no generally accepted concepts and technologies for efficiently exposing adherent growing cells to test atmospheres, especially those comprising complex mixtures of gaseous and particulate phases. The introduction of in vitro research into the field of inhalation toxicology offers a unique possibility for using human cells and tissues for pre-screening studies, thus reducing the necessity for animal experiments, and cutting the numbers of animals used in toxicological testing. We therefore developed a novel experimental concept that uses an exposure device based on the cell cultivation system CULTEX (Patent No. DE 198011763; PCT/EP99/00295). This allowed us to investigate environmental atmospheres, which were chemically and physically unmodified, in an in vitro system, by exposing the target cells directly at the air/liquid interface. The exposure device itself is small and flexible enough to be connected to a variety of aerosol-generating systems without the need for an incubator, as it fulfils all the requirements for maintaining cell viability over a defined period. The general applicability and the sensitivity of this in vitro approach for testing various generated atmospheres under the same cell-exposure conditions were demonstrated by studying dose-dependent cytotoxic effects in human lung epithelial cells exposed to air contaminated with single gases or complex mixtures, such as diesel exhaust fumes and side-stream cigarette smoke.

In vitro exposure of isolated cells to native gaseous compounds--development and validation of an optimized system for human lung cells

An exposure system for adherent growing cells to native gaseous compounds was developed using air/liquid culture techniques on the basis of the Cultex system'. In contrast to other exposure systems the reproducible testing of native environmentally relevant gases without changing their physical or chemical properties including heating, CO2- content and humidity is possible. Specially designed systems for medium flow and gas support guarantee the nutrification and humidification as well as the direct gas contact of the exposed cells which are cultivated on microporous membranes (0.4 microm pore size). The system works independently of a cell culture incubator offering the possibility to analyze any relevant gas mixture directly under indoor or outdoor conditions. Several experimental approaches were carried out to characterize the properties of the system. In exploratory experiments without cells, the reproducibility and quality of the gas/membrane contact could be demonstrated. Exposures of human lung fibroblasts (Lk004 cells) and human lung epithelial cells (HFBE-21 cells) to synthetic air, ozone (202 ppb, 510 ppb) and nitrogen dioxide (75 ppb to 1,200 ppb) established that cells could be treated for 120 minutes without significant loss of cellular viability. At the same time, the experiments confirmed that such exposure times are long enough to detect biological effects of environmentally relevant gas mixtures. The analysis of viability (viable cell number, tetrazoliumsalt cleavage) and intracellular end-points (oxidized/reduced glutathione, ATP/ADP) showed that both gases induced relevant cellular changes. In summary, the efficiency and practicability of this newly developed exposure system for adherent human lung cells could be clearly demonstrated.