Elevation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-inducible aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity in rat hepatocytes in primary culture by inhibitors of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase

Murine melanoma cell differentiation and melanogenesis induced by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors

Murine melanoma cells treated with the melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) family of peptides undergo differentiation characterized by enhanced melanogenesis and altered morphology. These effects are mediated via the adenylate cyclase-cAMP pathway leading to activation of protein kinase A (PKA). We have discovered that inhibition of a post-translational modification of chromatin proteins, viz. poly(ADP-ribosylation), also induces melanogenesis and differentiation in these cells. A range of competitive inhibitors (benzamide and its derivatives) of the nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PADPRP; EC 2.4.2.30) was utilized, and their ability to induce melanogenesis reflected their potency as PADPRP inhibitors. These compounds induced melanogenesis at low doses (20 microM-2 mM) which did not affect cell growth or viability. Induction of melanogenesis was not attributable to inhibition of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase by these compounds. MSH treatment caused a transient rise in cAMP levels (up to 200-fold by 5 min and returning to near basal levels by 5 h). It also stimulated PKA activity up to 5-fold, and the temporal kinetics of this activation mirrored the changes in cAMP levels. In comparison, the PADPRP inhibitors had no effect on either of these processes. These data constitute a novel demonstration of a cAMP-independent mechanism for the induction of melanoma cell differentiation, including melanogenesis.

Altered regulation of Cyp1a-1 gene expression during cultivation of mouse hepatocytes in primary culture

Alterations in Cyp1a-1 gene expression in adult C57BL/6 mouse hepatocytes were followed after transferring them to primary culture during the initial 5 days. Changing the medium to a fresh one was associated with considerable amounts of Cyp1a-1 gene mRNA with a peak at around 6 hr after the medium change, followed by a decrease to negligible levels 24 hr later. Treatment of hepatocytes with cycloheximide increased the medium change-associated mRNA expression, the levels being equivalent to those observed after treatment with 3.2-25.6 nM 3-methylcholanthrene plus cycloheximide. With increasing length of culture period, cycloheximide-aided enhancement of the medium change-associated mRNA transcription increased. Although the chemical alone did not induce Cyp1a-1 gene transcripts in hepatocytes at day 1 or 2 of cultivation, for which medium had been changed 24 hr previously, prominent induction of transcripts was evident at later periods, the levels being elevated in accordance with length of time in culture. To examine whether or not the mRNA transcribed under these culture conditions was translatable, the cells were treated with actinomycin D after washing out the cycloheximide, in order to inhibit degradation of the generated mRNA (Nemoto N and Sakurai J, Carcinogenesis 12: 2115-2121, 1991). After these procedures significant elevation of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity was observed in hepatocytes, the rise being well correlated with elevated levels of mRNA transcripts. The observations suggest that the Cyp1a-1 gene might be expressed at low levels during the initial phase of cultivation of mouse hepatocytes in primary culture. Whether this expression might be essential for mouse hepatocytes to adapt to culture conditions is unclear. The findings do suggest, however, that superinducibility of the gene expression after cycloheximide treatment might be a result of a regulatory mechanism operating after adaptation to culture.

Proline is required for transcriptional control of the aromatic hydrocarbon-inducible P(1)450 gene in C57BL/6 mouse monolayer-cultured hepatocytes

Expression of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) and the corresponding gene, Cyp1A1, or P(1)450 in mice, in C57BL/6 mouse hepatocytes in primary culture was investigated after exposure to benz[a]-anthracene with respect to proline-related metabolic regulation. When the cells were cultivated in complete Waymouth MB752/1 (Way), prominent induction of AHH by benz[a]anthracene was observed, whereas the induction was inefficient in the same but proline-deficient medium [Way-(-pro)]. Constitutive AHH activities decreased with increasing culture period. P(1)450 gene transcripts were slightly expressed when the medium was changed, independently of whether the cells were cultivated in either Way or Way(-pro), followed by decreased within 24 h and no apparent induction of AHH. However, treatment with delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid (P5C), a biosynthetic precursor for proline, dose-dependently increased basal AHH activities in the cells cultivated in Way-(-pro). Benz[a]anthracene induction of AHH in cells cultivated in Way(-pro) was additively increased in the presence of P5C as much as with proline. Treatment with o-aminobenzaldehyde, which inactivates P5C, drastically reduced the induced AHH activities in hepatocytes cultivated in either P5C-added Way(-pro) or Way medium. Benz[a]anthracene induced both P(1)450 and P(3)450 mRNAs. Neither proline nor P5C increased the induced transcripts within 12 h after the start of benz[a]-anthracene treatment, but the two compounds increased the amounts of P(1)450 mRNA found at later time points. After treatment with actinomycin D, the half-life of the induced P(1)450 mRNA was approximately 12 h, being independent of the presence of either proline or P5C. Our observations suggest that induction of AHH after treatment with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon is dependent on proline-related metabolism which influences the transcriptional process of P(1)450 gene expression.

Stable expression of mouse Cyp1a1 and human CYP1A2 cDNAs transfected into mouse hepatoma cells lacking detectable P450 enzyme activity

Using the mouse hepatoma Hepa-1c1c7 c37 mutant cell line that exhibits negligible benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylase (Cyp1a1) and acetanilide 4-hydroxylase (Cyp1a2) enzyme activities, we developed stable transfectants of plasmids containing the murine Cyp1a1 (cytochrome P(1)450) and the human CYP1A2 (P(3)450) cDNAs. We show that the assay measuring metabolism of ethoxyfluorescein ethyl ester (EFEE) was invaluable in screening large numbers of individual cell lines for high Cyp1a1 enzyme activity. Nine different plasmid constructs containing various combinations of promoter and enhancer sequences were compared, including: the Drosophila heat shock promoter, the mouse mammary tumor virus long terminal repeat (MMTV LTR) carrying the glucocorticoid-responsive element (GRE), enhancer sequences from simian virus 40 (SV40) and herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), and the aromatic hydrocarbon-responsive domain (AhRD) of the murine Cyp1a1 gene. Interestingly, only those constructs containing the AhRD produced high levels of Cyp1a1 enzyme activity. In contrast, high levels of CYP1A2 activity were obtained with plasmids carrying the HSV-1 enhancer, as well as the AhRD. These studies suggest that the AhRD, which responds to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), provides a post-transcriptional signal necessary for the induction of functional Cyp1a1 enzyme activity. Although untransfected c37 cells exhibit markedly elevated levels of endogenous Cyp1a1 mRNA, the expression of exogenous Cyp1a1 or CYP1A2 enzyme activity in these cells decreases the concentration of this endogenous Cyp1a1 mRNA to negligible levels and restores Cyp1a1 mRNA inducibility by TCDD; these data indicate that the functional product of either the Cyp1a1 gene or the CYP1A2 gene might have a role in an autoregulatory loop controlling the constitutive expression of the Cyp1a1 gene. The cell lines described herein should be valuable in assessing the contribution of these two P450 enzymes to the processes of cytotoxicity, mutagenesis, and carcinogenesis.