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Biomedical subjects

D C Wolf

Publications and source records attributed to D C Wolf.

84 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Systemic artery-to-pulmonary artery fistula. A new therapeutic approach.

A patient with systemic artery-to-pulmonary artery fistulae is described. Historically, all therapy of this type of lesion has been surgical. We describe a new mode of treatment, therapeutic embolization, which obviates surgical intervention and its attendant risks. Embolization is an alternative to surgery that should be considered in selected cases.

Adult↗

Portal vein velocities measured by ultrasound: usefulness for evaluating shunt functioning following TIPS placement and TIPS revision.

BACKGROUND: To assess the usefulness of following portal vein velocities by Doppler ultrasound in evaluating shunt functioning after transhepatic intrajugular portosystemic shunt (TIPS) placement and revision. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 39 patients who underwent a TIPS procedure in the preceding 4 years. Portal vein (PV) velocities were measured by Doppler ultrasound before and after TIPS insertion and revision and were correlated with portosystemic gradients (PSG) measured at angiography. RESULTS: Mean PV velocities increased from 18 +/- 6 cm/s before TIPS placement to 50 +/- 21 cm/s (p < 0.001) after TIPS placement, with corresponding decrease of mean PSG from 20 +/- 6 to 8 +/- 3 mmHg (p < 0.001). Mean PV velocities significantly increased from 24 +/- 6 to 43 +/- 14 cm/s after TIPS revision (p < 0.02), with decrease of PSG from 17 +/- 6 to 9 +/- 5 mmHg (p < 0.05). A significant correlation was found between all PV velocities and their corresponding PSG (Spearman r < 0.61, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: PV velocities significantly correlate with changes in PSG. Following portal vein velocities by ultrasound is useful for early evaluation of shunt functioning following TIPS.

Angiography↗

Subchronic sodium chlorate exposure in drinking water results in a concentration-dependent increase in rat thyroid follicular cell hyperplasia.

Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) is an effective drinking water disinfectant, but sodium chlorate (NaClO3) has been identified as a potentially harmful disinfection by-product. Studies were performed to describe the development of thyroid lesions in animals exposed to NaClO3 in the drinking water. Male and female F344 rats and B6C3F1 mice were exposed to 0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 g/L NaClO3 for 21 days. Additional male F344 rats were exposed to 0, 0.001. 0.01. 0.1, 1.0. or 2.0 g/L NaClO3 for 90 days. Female F344 rats were exposed to 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, or 6.0 g/L of NaClO3 for 105 days. Thyroid tissues were processed by routine methods for light microscopic examination, and follicular cell hyperplasia was diagnosed using a novel method. Thyroid hormone levels were altered significantly after 4 and 21 days. NaClO, treatment induced a concentration-dependent increase in the incidence and severity of thyroid follicular cell hyperplasia. Male rats are more sensitive to the effects of NaClO3 treatment than females. Follicular cell hyperplasia was not present in male or female B6C3F1 mice. These data can be used to estimate the human health risk that would be associated with using ClO2, rather than chlorine, to disinfect drinking water.

Animals↗

Origin and distribution of potassium bromate-induced testicular and peritoneal mesotheliomas in rats.

Tissue sections were examined from a 2-year bioassay of male Fischer 344 rats treated with potassium bromate administered in drinking water. All animals exhibiting peritoneal mesotheliomas also had mesotheliomas of the tunica vaginalis testis mesorchium (the reverse was not true), and the correlation of these 2 types of mesotheliomas was highly significant (r2 = 0.98). Mapping of the tunica vaginalis tumors at all time points and at all bromate concentrations revealed a pattern of increasing incidence of tumor formation on the mesothelium of the tunica vaginalis testis as a function of proximity to the mesorchial ligament. Thus, the mesorchium appears to be the major mesothelial target site for potassium bromate-mediated carcinogenesis. The frequency of occurrence of mesotheliomas by location was tunica vaginalis testis (25%), mesosplenium (20%), mesentery (10%), mesojejunum/mesocolon (8%), bladder (6.5%), mesogastrium (13%), liver serosa (5%), and kidney, small intestine, and rectum (1% each). A complete cross-section of the rat testis was prepared and used to construct a complete map of the mesothelium. Any attempt to determine the role of local dose and tissue susceptibility for the purpose of interspecies risk extrapolation must take into account the complex anatomy and physiology of this region of the visceral and testicular suspensory apparatus. Improved histologic approaches are needed for adequate assessment of this delicate suspensory system.

Animals↗

Risk assessment of inhaled chloroform based on its mode of action.

The development of scientifically sound risk assessments based on mechanistic data will enable society to better allocate scarce resources. Inadequate risk assessments may result in potentially dangerous levels of hazardous chemicals, whereas overly conservative estimates can result in unnecessary loss of products or industries and waste limited resources. Risk models are used to extrapolate from high-dose rodent studies to estimate potential effects in humans at low environmental exposures and determine a virtually safe dose (VSD). When information to the contrary is not available, the linearized multistage (LMS) model, a conservative model that assumes some risk of cancer at any dose, is traditionally employed. In the case of airborne chloroform, the dose at which an increased lifetime cancer risk of 10(-6) could be calculated was chosen as the target VSD. Applying the LMS model to the mouse liver tumor data from a corn-oil gavage bioassay yields a VSD of 0.000008 ppm chloroform in the air. The weight of evidence indicates that chloroform is not directly mutagenic but, rather, acts through a nongenotoxic-cytotoxic mode of action. In this case, tumor formation results from events secondary to induced cytolethality and regenerative cell proliferation. Toxicity is not observed in rodents when chloroform is not converted to toxic metabolites at a rate sufficient to kill cells. Thus, tumors would not be anticipated at doses that do not induce cytolethality, contrary to the predictions of the LMS model. Inhalation studies in rodents show no cytolethality or regenerative cell proliferation in mouse liver at a chloroform concentration of 10 ppm as the no observed effect level (NOEL) or below. Using that NOEL and a safety factor approach, one can develop a VSD of 0.01 ppm. Integrating these data into the risk assessment process will yield risk estimates that are appropriate to the route of administration and consistent with the mode of action.

Administration, Inhalation↗

Quantitative relationship between transforming growth factor-alpha and hepatic focal phenotype and progression in female mouse liver.

Modulations in the positive hepatocyte growth factor, transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) and its receptor epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), occur in rat and human liver tumors. The purpose of this study was to determine if TGF-alpha and EGFR are altered in basophilic and acidophilic preneoplastic and neoplastic liver lesions generated in DEN-initiated mice exposed to a variety of hepatocarcinogens. Female B6C3F1 mice were initiated with N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN) and treated with hepatocarcinogenic concentrations of unleaded gasoline vapor (2,000 ppm), methyl tertiary butyl ether vapor (7,814 ppm), phenobarbital (500 ppm, diet), or chlordane (25 ppm, diet). Hepatic foci and tumors were identified and evaluated immunohistochemically with antibodies for TGF-alpha and EGFR. In all treatment groups, basophilic hepatic foci were negative for TGF-alpha immunoreactivity (554/564, 98%). In contrast, regardless of treatment, acidophilic hepatic foci were immunoreactive for TGF-alpha (107/108, 99%). There was no significant difference in mean hepatic labeling index as measured by the incorporation of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine between foci immunoreactive and nonimmunoreactive for TGF-alpha. The incidence of immunoreactivity for TGF-alpha increased in hepatocellular tumors that were predominantly of the basophilic phenotype. Of basophilic hepatocellular adenomas, 16/81 (20%) were immunoreactive for TGF-alpha, while 17/29 (59%) of hepatocellular carcinomas stained positive for TGF-alpha. A similar increased incidence of EGFR immunoreactivity was found in basophilic hepatocellular adenomas (17/67, 25%) and carcinomas (19/28, 68%) relative to basophilic foci (11/367, 3%), suggesting an autocrine mechanism for the development of mouse liver tumors. The increased incidence of TGF-alpha immunoreactivity in basophilic liver tumors suggests that TGF-alpha is a marker of tumor progression in mouse liver. Furthermore, TGF-alpha modulations were dependent on phenotype rather than treatment, indicating inherent differences in the expression of TGF-alpha in basophilic and acidophilic hepatic lesions.

Adenoma, Liver Cell↗

Carcinogenicity of potassium bromate administered in the drinking water to male B6C3F1 mice and F344/N rats.

Ozone has been proposed for water disinfection because it is more efficient than chlorine for killing microbes and results in much lower levels of carcinogenic trihalomethanes than does chlorination. Ozone leads to formation of hypobromous acid in surface waters with high bromine content and forms brominated organic by-products and bromate. The carcinogenicity and chronic toxicity of potassium bromate (KBrO3) was studied in male B6C3F1 mice and F344/N rats to confirm and extend the results of previous work. Mice were treated with 0, 0.08, 0.4, or 0.8 g/L KBrO3 in the drinking water for up to 100 wk, and rats were provided with 0, 0.02, 0.1, 0.2, or 0.4 g/L KBrO3. Animals were euthanatized, necropsied, and subjected to a complete macroscopic examination. Selected tissues and gross lesions were processed by routine methods for light microscopic examination. The present study showed that KBrO3 is carcinogenic in the rat kidney, thyroid, and mesothelium and is a renal carcinogen in the male mouse, KBrO3 was carcinogenic in rodents at water concentrations as low as 0.02 g/L (20 ppm; 1.5 mg/kg/day). These data can be used to estimate the human health risk that would be associated with changing from chlorination to ozonation for disinfection of drinking water.

Animals↗

Time- and dose-dependent development of potassium bromate-induced tumors in male Fischer 344 rats.

Potassium bromate (KBrO3) is a rodent carcinogen and a nephro- and neurotoxicant in humans. KBrO3 is used in cosmetics and food products and is a by-product of water disinfection by ozonization. KBrO3 is carcinogenic in the rat kidney, thyroid, and mesothelium and is a renal carcinogen in the male mouse. The present study was designed to investigate the relationship of time and dose to bromate-induced tumors in male Fischer 344 (F344) rats and to provide some insight into the development of these tumors. KBrO3 was dissolved in drinking water at nominal concentrations of 0, 0.02, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 g/L and administered to male F344 rats as the sole water source for 12, 26, 52, 78, or 100 wk. Renal cell tumors were present after 52 wk of treatment only in the high-dose group. Mesotheliomas developed after 52 wk of treatment on the tunica vaginalis. Mesotheliomas were present at sites other than the testicle after 78 wk of treatment, indicating that their origin was the testicular tunic. Thyroid follicular tumors were present as early as 26 wk in 1 rat each from the 0.1- and 0.2-g/L groups. The present study can be used as a basis for the determination of dose-time relationships of tumor development for a better understanding of KBrO3-induced cancer.

Adenoma↗

Promotion of hepatic preneoplastic lesions in male B6C3F1 mice by unleaded gasoline.

In previous studies, unleaded gasoline (UG) vapor was found to be a liver tumor promoter and hepatocarcinogen in female mice, but UG was not a hepatocarcinogen in male mice. However, UG vapor had similar transient mitogenic effects in nonlesioned liver of both male and female mice under the conditions of the cancer bioassay. We used an initiation-promotion protocol to determine whether UG vapor acts as a liver tumor promoter in male mice and to examine proliferative effects that may be critical to tumor development. Twelve-day-old male B6C3F1 mice were injected with N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN; 5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) or vehicle. Starting at 5-7 weeks of age, mice were exposed by inhalation 6 hr/day, 5 days/week for 16 weeks to 0 or 2046 ppm of PS-6 blend UG. UG treatment caused a significant 2.3-fold increase in the number of macroscopic hepatic masses in DEN-initiated mice, whereas no macroscopic masses were observed in non-initiated mice. Altered hepatic foci (AHF), which were predominantly basophilic in phenotype, were found almost exclusively in DEN-initiated mice. UG treatment significantly increased both the mean volume (threefold) and the volume fraction (twofold) of the AHF without increasing the number of AHF per unit area. UG also induced hepatic pentoxyresorufin-O-dealkylase (PROD) activity, a marker of CYP2B, by more than 12-fold over control with or without DEN cotreatment. To study hepatocyte proliferative effects of UG, we treated mice with 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) via osmotic pump for 3 days before necropsy and measured hepatocyte BrdU labeling index (LI) in AHF and nonlesioned liver.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗