Selective inhibition of Cl(-) conductance in toad skin by blockers of Cl(-) channels and transporters

In vitro studies on erythrosine-based photodynamic therapy of malignant and pre-malignant oral epithelial cells

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) involves the administration of a tumor localizing photosensitizing agent, which upon activation with light of an appropriate wavelength leads to the destruction of the tumor cells. The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy of erythrosine as a photosensitizer for the PDT of oral malignancies. The drug uptake kinetics of erythrosine in malignant (H357) and pre-malignant (DOK) oral epithelial cells and their susceptibility to erythrosine-based PDT was studied along with the determination of the subcellular localization of erythrosine. This was followed by initial investigations into the mechanism of cell killing induced following PDT involving both high and low concentrations of erythrosine. The results showed that at 37 °C the uptake of erythrosine by both DOK and H357 cells increased in an erythrosine dose dependent manner. However, the percentage of cell killing observed following PDT differed between the 2 cell lines; a maximum of ~80% of DOK cell killing was achieved as compared to ~60% killing for H357 cells. Both the DOK and H357 cell types exhibited predominantly mitochondrial accumulation of erythrosine, but the mitochondrial trans-membrane potential (ΔΨ(m)) studies showed that the H357 cells were far more resistant to the changes in ΔΨ(m) when compared to the DOK cells and this might be a factor in the apparent relative resistance of the H357 cells to PDT. Finally, cell death morphology and caspase activity analysis studies demonstrated the occurrence of extensive necrosis with high dose PDT in DOK cells, whereas apoptosis was observed at lower doses of PDT for both cell lines. For H357 cells, high dose PDT produced both apoptotic as well as necrotic responses. This is the first instance of erythrosine-based PDT's usage for cancer cell killing.

Nematicidal activity of anion transport blockers against Meloidogyne incognita, Caenorhabditis elegans and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora

BACKGROUND

Because methyl bromide has been phased out as a soil sterilant, new nematicides are urgently needed. Four different chemical classes of organic acids acting as anion transport (AT) blockers were tested against a free-living nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans Maupas, a plant-parasitic nematode, Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid and White) Chitwood, and an entomopathogenic nematode, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar, in toxicity bioassays. The materials tested were DIDS (4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid), 9-AC (anthracene-9-carboxylic acid), NPPB [5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid] and IAA-94 (indanyloxyacetic acid).

RESULTS

All the compounds showed slowly developing nematicidal activity against second-stage juveniles of M. incognita and adults of C. elegans, but not against H. bacteriophora infective-stage juveniles. The LC(50) values of these compounds were < 50 mg L(-1) after 48 and 72 h incubation, while at 168 h incubation the LC(50) values were < 10 mg L(-1) for both sensitive species. Across both species and time, the LC(50) values generally differed no more than twofold among the four compounds tested in this study. In contrast, none of the compounds (200 mg L(-1)) caused more than control mortality to H. bacteriophora, even after 168 h of incubation.

CONCLUSION

These compounds are potential leads for commercial nematicides. The insensitivity to H. bacteriophora is consistent with the natural exposure of this nematode to DST (3,5-dihydroxy-4-isopropylstilbene), a stilbene produced by its symbiotic bacterium. Based on the known activity of the compounds used in this study, it is suggested that anion transporters form the probable target sites for DIDS, 9-AC, NPPB and IAA-94 in nematodes.

Xanthine derivatives without PDE effect stimulate voltage-activated chloride conductance of toad skin

The effect of xanthine derivatives on the voltage-activated Cl(-) conductance (G(Cl)) of amphibian skin was analyzed. 3-Isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX) and the recently synthesized xanthine derivatives 3,7-dimethyl-1-propyl xanthine (X-32) and 3,7-dimethyl-1-isobutyl xanthine (X-33), which lack inhibitory effects on phosphodiesterases in CHO and Calu-3 cells, increased voltage-activated G(Cl) without effect on baseline conductance at inactivating voltage. Half-maximal stimulation of G(Cl) occurred at 108 +/- 9 microM for X-32 and X-33 after apical or basolateral application. The stimulation of G(Cl), which occurs only in the presence of Cl(-) in the mucosal solution, is caused by a shift of the voltage sensitivity to lower clamp potentials and an increase of the maximally activated level. Furosemide reversed both the shift of sensitivity and the increase in magnitude. These patterns are fundamentally different from those seen after application of membrane-permeant, nonmetabolized analogs of cAMP, and they indicate that the xanthines stimulate G(Cl) directly. This notion is strengthened by the lack of influence on intracellular cAMP content, which is consistent with the observations in CHO and Calu-3 cells. We propose that the xanthine derivatives increase the voltage sensitivity of a regulative component in the conductive Cl(-) pathway across amphibian skin.

Mitochondria-rich cells as experimental model in studies of epithelial chloride channels

The mitochondria-rich (mr) cell of amphibian skin epithelium is differentiated as a highly specialised pathway for passive transepithelial transport of chloride. The apical membrane of mr cells expresses several types of Cl(-) channels, of which the function of only two types has been studied in detail. (i) One type of channel is gated by voltage and external chloride concentration. This intriguing type of regulation leads to opening of channels only if [Cl(-)](o) is in the millimolar range and if the electrical potential is of a polarity that secures an inwardly directed net flux of this ion. Reversible voltage activations of the conductance proceed with long time constants, which depend on V in such a way that the rate of conductance activation increases when V is clamped at more negative values (serosal bath grounded). The gating seems to involve processes that are dependent on F-actin localised in the submembrane domain in the neck region of the flask-shaped mr cell. (ii) The other identified Cl(-) pathway of mr cells is mediated by small-conductance apical CFTR chloride channels as concluded from its activation via beta-adrenergic receptors, ion selectivity, genistein stimulation and inhibition by glibenclamide. bbCFTR has been cloned, and immunostaining has shown that the gene product is selectively expressed in mr cells. There is cross-talk between the two pathways in the sense that activation of the conductance of the mr cell by voltage clamping excludes activation via receptor occupation, and vice versa. The mechanism of this cross-talk is unknown.