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Biomedical subjects

J E French

Publications and source records attributed to J E French.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Roles for insulin-like growth factor-1 in mediating the anti-carcinogenic effects of caloric restriction.

This paper focuses on the role of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and its associated regulatory apparatus as a key endocrine, autocrine, and paracrine signalling system involved in mediating the anti-carcinogenic activity of dietary restriction. Literature is reviewed showing that the inhibitory action of dietary restriction on carcinogenesis is global and pervasive--it is effective in several laboratory species, for a variety of tumor types, and for both spontaneous tumors and tumors caused by different types of tumor-inducing agents. Evidence is presented showing the IGF-1 pathway responds appropriately to nutritional interventions including diet restriction. Recent evidence points to an obligatory role for the IGF-1 receptor in the establishment and maintenance of the transformed phenotype and reveals that IGF-1 in concert with insulin-like binding protein 3 and p53 is involved in autocrine/paracrine growth signaling pathways as adaptive responses to environmental stimuli. Considered together these works show that the IGF-1 pathway is uniquely poised to influence cellular transformation leading to the malignant phenotype by modulating the balance of cellular proliferation and cell death (apoptosis) in precancerous and cancerous cells and by influencing metastasis of nascent tumors. We evaluated these hypotheses directly using animal models of mononuclear cell leukemia, bladder transitional cell carcinogenesis, and breast cancer. Our studies demonstrate that manipulation of IGF-1 level through dietary intervention influences tumor growth and metastasis. Upregulation of this pathway demonstrated that increased IGF-1 stimulates tumor proliferation, progression and metastasis. Conversely, downregulation of this pathway in vivo as a consequence of dietary restriction results in antitumorigenic activity. We found that the functional disruption of IGF-1R markedly influences breast cancer metastasis in nude mice by suppressing cellular adhesion, invasion, and metastasis of breast cancer cells to the lung, lymph nodes, and lymph vessels. Epidemiological observations and clinical oncology results support the involvement of IGF-1 in carcinogenesis and anticarcinogenesis. This leads to the hypothesis that factors such as IGF-1 which regulate body size and composition may be related to human cancer incidence or prognosis. Additional understanding of this pathway and its interactions with other signaling pathways will advance our ability to develop new interventions towards decreased cancer risk in humans.

Aging↗

Photocarcinogenesis and susceptibility to UV radiation in the v-Ha-ras transgenic Tg.AC mouse.

The v-Ha-ras transgenic Tg.AC mouse line has proven to be a useful model for the study of chemical carcinogenic potential. We undertook experiments designed to study the effect of the physical carcinogen, UV radiation, on tumorigenesis in this mouse strain. Following a total of three exposures on alternating days to a radiation source covering a cumulative UVR exposure range of 2.6-42.6 kJ per m2, squamous papillomas developed by 4 wk after initial exposure in a dose-dependent manner. Malignancies developed within 18-30 wk following the initial UVR exposure and were all diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma or spindle cell tumors. In contrast to other mouse stains used in photocarcinogenesis studies, few p53 mutations were found in Tg.AC malignancies upon polymerase chain reaction-single stranded conformational polymorphism analysis of exons 4-8 followed by sequencing of suspicious bands; however, all tumors analyzed by in situ hybridization expressed the v-Ha-ras transgene. Immunohistochemical analysis of UVR-exposed skin taken 24 h after the last of three exposures (13.1 kJ per m2 total UVR) showed expression of p53 in hair follicles and in interfollicular epidermis, which indicates that the gene was functional. Thus, although there are some differences between the Tg.AC and other mouse models, these results suggest that the Tg.AC mouse may be a useful model for the study of acute exposure photocarcinogenesis.

Animals↗

Absence of systemic in vivo genotoxicity after dermal exposure to ethyl acrylate and tripropylene glycol diacrylate in Tg.AC (v-Ha-ras) mice.

Acrylates may be polymerized to stable surface coatings (paints, lacquers, inks, etc.) by alkylation via the Michaelis-type addition reaction. Thus, acrylates have an inherent potential as electrophiles to be genotoxic, limited in their biological activity by their physicochemical properties. To evaluate their systemic genotoxicity, ethyl acrylate (EA), tripropylene glycol diacrylate (TPGDA), or Lacquer A, an ultraviolet radiation curable lacquer containing TPGDA as the active ingredient, were applied dermally to Tg.AC mice (3 times a week for 20 weeks). Peripheral blood leukocytes were evaluated for DNA damage (single-strand breaks, alkali labile sites, DNA crosslinking) at weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 by using the alkaline (pH: 13) single cell gel (SCG) assay. Peripheral blood polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) and normochromatic erythrocytes (NCE) were evaluated for the presence of micronuclei at week 20. The extent of DNA migration in leukocytes and the frequency of micronucleated erythrocytes was not significantly altered by treatment with TPGDA when administered alone or in Lacquer A or with EA, at doses that induced cell proliferation in keratinocytes. The absence of genotoxicity in these two cell populations suggests that these acrylates are not genotoxic or that they are not absorbed systemically when applied dermally. However, a significant, dose-dependent increase in the percentage of PCE relative to the vehicle control was present in mice treated with TPGDA, while a dose-dependent, but nonsignificant, increase in the percentage of PCE was observed in mice treated with Lacquer A. This observed increase in the rate of erythropoiesis may reflect bone marrow/blood toxicity, a homeostatic mechanism in response to the treatment-induced tumor burden, and/or a hematopoietic response to epidermal keratinocyte cytokines induced by tissue injury.

Acrylates↗

Analysis of genetic instability during mammary tumor progression using a novel selection-based assay for in vivo mutations in a bacteriophage lambda transgene target.

Genetic instability is thought to be responsible for the numerous genotypic changes that occur during neoplastic transformation and metastatic progression. To explore the role of genetic instability at the level of point mutations during mammary tumor development and malignant progression, we combined transgenic mouse models of mutagenesis detection and oncogenesis. Bitransgenic mice were generated that carried both a bacteriophage lambda transgene to assay mutagenesis and a polyomavirus middle T oncogene, mammary gland-targeted expression of which led to metastatic mammary adenocarcinomas. We developed a novel assay for the detection of mutations in the lambda transgene that selects for phage containing forward mutations only in the lambda cII gene, using an hfl- bacterial host. In addition to the relative ease of direct selection, the sensitivity of this assay for both spontaneous and chemically induced mutations was comparable to the widely used mutational target gene, lambda lacI, making the cII assay an attractive alternative for mutant phage recovery for any lambda-based mouse mutagenesis assay system. The frequencies of lambda cII- mutants were not significantly different in normal mammary epithelium, primary mammary adenocarcinomas, and pulmonary metastases. The cII mutational spectra in these tissues consisted mostly of G/C-->A/T transitions, a large fraction of which occurred at CpG dinucleotides. These data suggest that, in this middle T oncogene model of mammary tumor progression, a significant increase in mutagenesis is not required for tumor development or for metastatic progression.

Animals↗

Evaluation of transgenic mouse bioassays for identifying carcinogens and noncarcinogens.

Data supporting the use of transgenic lines to identify carcinogens and noncarcinogens are thus far based on a limited number of chemicals for which there are also long-term bioassay results in rats and/or mice. Six chemicals have been tested in the heterozygous p53-deficient mice and 13 in the Tg.AC line. The results show that the p53def responds rapidly to mutagenic carcinogens and the Tg.AC responds rapidly to both mutagenic and nonmutagenic carcinogens. Neither transgenic line responded to the noncarcinogens that were tested. The p53def line failed to respond to two nonmutagenic carcinogens (N-methyloacrylamide and reserpine), the Tg.AC line failed to respond to ethyl acrylate, a nonmutagenic chemical that induced tumors of the forestomach when administered by gavage, and to triethanolamine that caused an increase in hepatocellular tumors in B6C3F1 mice via skin painting. Both of the latter chemicals are examples of highly specific responses related to either route of administration or to strain susceptibility. Further efforts to evaluate the range of chemicals to which these transgenic lines respond are currently in progress.

Animals↗

Mechanism of skin tumorigenesis by contact sensitizers: the effect of the corticosteroid fluocinolone acetonide on inflammation and tumor induction by 2,4 dinitro-1-fluorobenzene in the skin of the TG.AC (v-Ha-ras) mouse.

The effect of the corticosteroid fluocinolone acetonide (FA) on skin tumor induction and inflammation by the contact sensitizer dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) was examined. This study broadly relates to the question of whether contact sensitizers, as electrophilic chemicals that produce protein adduction, may constitute an environmental cancer hazard. The specific aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which the immunogenic inflammatory response to DNFB, in contrast to DNFB cytotoxicity, might be responsible for tumor induction. Experiments were conducted on a transgenic (TG.AC) mouse, incorporating a mutated ras oncogene (v-Ha-ras) that responds rapidly and profusely with skin papillomas to tumor promoters as if it were genetically initiated. Various doses and patterns of DNFB and FA were applied to the skin in a 2-week period; DNFB was given four times and FA was given either with the DNFB or daily. The tumor response to DNFB was completed by 8 weeks from the first dose and was consistent with a dose-squared relationship. FA was not tumorigenic alone; when given with DNFB, it caused only a small reduction in inflammation and tumor yield. When given daily, FA increased ulcerative skin damage, inflammation, and the yield tumors. The results suggest that tumorigenesis by DNFB, in the high-dose short-term regimen used here, is mainly due to its cytotoxicity and not contact sensitization.

Animals↗

Study design and sample sizes for a lacI transgenic mouse mutation assay.

Design features that adjust and account for excess variation in a transgenic mouse mutation assay based on a lacI target transgene from E. coli are considered. These features include proper identification of plate, packaging reaction, and animal identifier codes throughout the experimental and analysis phases of the study, "blocking" of exposed and unexposed animals when preparing and plating multiple packaging reactions from the same genomic DNA sample, separating sectored mutant plaques and complete mutant plaques before performing any quantitative analyses, and testing for sources of excess variation attributable to features of the experimental protocol--such as plate-to-plate (within packaging reactions), packaging reaction-to-packaging reaction (within animals), and animal-to-animal (within study). Control and ethylnitrosourea-treated animal data are presented from a fully designed study in the lacI assay. The study design incorporates many of these experimental principles. Statistical methods to identify excess variability are noted, and the designed study data are used to illustrate the types of variability encountered in practice. A standard statistical test for two-sample testing is highlighted, from which recommendations are made for sample size selection in future studies.

Analysis of Variance↗

Identifying chemical carcinogens and assessing potential risk in short-term bioassays using transgenic mouse models.

Cancer is a worldwide public health concern. Identifying carcinogens and limiting their exposure is one approach to the problem of reducing risk. Currently, epidemiology and rodent bioassays are the means by which putative human carcinogens are identified. Both methods have intrinsic limitations: they are slow and expensive processes with many uncertainties. The development of methods to modify specific genes in the mammalian genome has provided promising new tools for identifying carcinogens and characterizing risk. Transgenic mice may provide advantages in shortening the time required for bioassays and improving the accuracy of carcinogen identification; transgenic mice might now be included in the testing armamentarium without abandoning the two-year bioassay, the current standard. We show that mutagenic carcinogens can be identified with increased sensitivity and specificity using hemizygous p53 mice in which one allele of the p53 gene has been inactivated. Furthermore, the TG.AC transgenic model, carrying a v-Ha-ras construct, has developed papillomas and malignant tumors in response to a number of mutagenic and nonmutagenic carcinogens and tumor promoters, but not to noncarcinogens. We present a decision-tree approach that permits, at modest extra cost, the testing of more chemicals with improved ability to extrapolate from rodents to humans.

Animals↗

A transgenic mouse model (TG.AC) for skin carcinogenesis: inducible transgene expression as a second critical event.

The v-Ha-ras transgenic TG.AC mouse line behaves as a genetically initiated model for mouse skin tumorigenesis with enhanced susceptibility to skin carcinogens. TG.AC mice develop epidermal papillomas in fewer than 20 weeks in response to the topical application of a variety of chemicals such as complete carcinogens, phorbol ester-type tumor promoters, and nonphorbol ester-type tumor promoters as well as to full-thickness skin wounds or plucking of the dorsal hair. We have found that the pedunculated epidermal papillomas can arise as focal hyperplasias from the permanent portion of the follicular epithelium. Expression of the v-Ha-ras transgene serves as a marker for tumor development since it is expressed at significant levels in the papilloma precursors, focal follicular hyperplasias, and the papillomas but not in the surrounding skin. Transgene expression colocalizes with increased cell proliferation in the papillomas as compared to non-tumor bearing surrounding skin. Malignant skin tumors, primarily squamous cell carcinomas and sarcomas, develop from sites of papilloma development in approximately 40% of papilloma bearing mice. As well as significant levels of transgenic v-Ha-ras expression, some of the malignancies also exhibit karyotypic changes which include trisomy of chromosome six or fifteen, but not chromosome seven. We believe that the TG.AC mouse line serves not only as a model for studying the mechanisms of skin tumorigenesis, but will also be a useful adjunct to the two year NTP toxicity/carcinogenicity studies by identifying carcinogens in fewer than 20 weeks.

Animals↗

Cytogenetic analysis of malignant skin tumors induced in chemically treated TG-AC transgenic mice.

TG.AC mice (which carry a v-Ha-ras transgene) rapidly develop papillomas in response to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Approximately 30% of the papillomas are associated with subsequent development of malignancies. Early-passage spindle-shaped tumor cells arising from explant cultures of TPA-induced tumors in TG.AC mice were tumorigenic when transplanted to syngeneic recipients. The v-Ha-ras transgene in the transplanted tumors was expressed at a high level. To identify possible genetic changes associated with the development of malignant tumors, explanted cells were cultured in vitro and assessed for karyotypic changes between the second and third passages by analyzing G-banded metaphase chromosomes. For comparison, skin malignancies were induced in nontransgenic FVB/N mice (parent strain) by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) initiation and TPA promotion, and their G-banded metaphase chromosomes were analyzed. Trisomy (in at least 50% of about 30 metaphases) of chromosome 15 (in five of 15 tumors) and chromosome 6 (four of 15 tumors) was observed in TG.AC mice, independent of chemical treatment or tumor type. Of six tumors from DMBA/TPA-treated FVB/N mice, three had trisomy 10 or 15 (or both), and two appeared normal. The absence of trisomy 7 is notable because c-Ha-ras maps to that chromosome. The absence of trisomy 7 in the six FVB/N DMBA/TPA-induced skin malignancies contrasts with DMBA/TPA-induced karyotypic effects in SENCAR mice. Expression of the v-Ha-ras transgene may have precluded the requirement for endogenous mutant ras and allelic imbalance involving chromosome 7 in TG.AC mice, but it could not have in FVB/N mice. These results suggest the possibility that the observed trisomies are consequential, rather than causal, events in the development of TG.AC or FVB/N skin malignancies. Molecular genetic analysis will be required to understand the changes associated with tumorigenesis in this transgenic line as well as in the parent mouse line.

9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene↗

Inhibition of rat mononuclear cell leukemia by corn oil gavage: in vivo, in situ and immune competence studies.

Corn oil administered by oral gavage decreases the spontaneous incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia (MNCL) in male Fischer rats used as vehicle controls in long-term carcinogenesis experiments. We used an MNCL transplant model, an in situ MNCL cell proliferation assay and immune competence assays to explore mechanism(s) underlying the effects of corn oil gavage on MNCL development in male rats. Relative to non-gavaged or water-gavaged rats, corn oil-gavaged rats had approximately 25% lower MNCL incidence as well as longer MNCL latency and increased survival. There were no differences in body weight or caloric intake between treatment groups, as corn oil-gavaged rats compensated for calories supplied by the gavaged oil by consuming less food. These data indicate that transplanted MNCL cells grew slower in corn oil-gavaged rats than in non-gavaged or water-gavaged rats and suggest that corn oil gavage may exert its effects through a decrease in protein or other nutrients. Five-day proliferation rates of cultured MNCL cells in diffusion chambers implanted in male corn oil-gavaged rats were 40% less than in water-gavaged rats, suggesting nutrition-sensitive endogenous factors mediate the suppression of MNCL cell proliferation in corn oil-gavaged rats. Corn oil-gavaged rats had 54% lower serum growth hormone (GH) levels, and replacement of GH into corn oil-gavaged rats by osmotic minipump infusion increased in situ MNCL cell proliferation to rates observed in water-gavaged animals. Corn oil-gavaged rats also showed enhanced cellular immune competence as measured by mitogen stimulation, natural cytotoxicity and immunofluorescence assays. Taken together, these findings suggest corn oil administered by oral gavage may decrease MNCL development by slowing MNCL cell proliferation, mediated at least in part by altered levels of diffusible factors such as GH, and/or by enhancing immune competence.

Administration, Oral↗

The growth hormone: insulin-like growth factor 1 axis is a mediator of diet restriction-induced inhibition of mononuclear cell leukemia in Fischer rats.

A leukemia cell transplant model and both in situ and in vitro bioassays were used to assess the roles of endogenous factors in mediating diet restriction (DR)-induced inhibition of mononuclear cell leukemia (MNCL) in Fischer 344 rats. DR-treated male rats (n = 35), which were fed 75% of ad libitum (AL) intake of NIH-07 open formula diet, had lower transplanted MNCL incidence (54 versus 77%; P = 0.039) with longer latency (P = 0.015) and decreased severity (P = 0.01) than AL-treated rats 12 weeks after inoculation with MNCL cells. Five-day proliferation rates of cultured MNCL (CRNK-16) cells in diffusion chambers implanted in DR-treated rats were 22% less than in AL-treated rats (P = 0.03), indicating that DR-dependent diffusible factor(s) modulate in situ MNCL cell growth. Serum from DR-treated rats supported lower in vitro CRNK-16 cell proliferation rates relative to serum from AL-treated rats. Serum levels of both growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) were over 50% lower in DR- versus AL-treated rats. An evaluation of the in vitro cell proliferative activity of a panel of purified factors showed that GH and IGF-1, but not 15 other growth factors, stimulated thymidine incorporation in CRNK-16 cells. Infusion of either GH or IGF-1 via osmotic minipumps restored in situ and in vitro CRNK-16 cell proliferation in DR-treated rats up to rates measured in AL-treated rats. Splenocytes from DR-treated rats, relative to AL-treated rats, were more sensitive to mitogen stimulation, displayed increased cell surface expression of receptors for class 1 and 2 major histocompatibility complex molecules, and were more cytotoxic to target tumor cells. Infusion of either GH or IGF-1 in DR-treated rats further enhanced mitogen responsiveness and natural cytotoxicity but reversed the DR-induced increase in major histocompatibility complex receptors. We conclude that DR modulates MNCL progression in Fischer 344 rats through both its influence on MNCL cell proliferation via suppression of the GH:IGF-1 axis and its enhancement of host defenses against tumor cells.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

Inhalation toxicity of 1,6-hexanediamine dihydrochloride in F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice.

1,6-Hexanediamine (HDA) is a high production volume chemical which is used as an intermediate in the synthesis of paints, resins, inks, and textiles and as a corrosion inhibitor in lubricants. Two- and 13-week studies of the toxicity of the dihydrochloride salt of HDA (HDDC) were conducted in male and female Fischer 344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice using whole-body inhalation exposure. Both species were evaluated for histopathologic and reproductive effects, and rats were examined for clinical chemistry and hematologic changes. In the 2-week inhalation studies, animals were exposed to 10-800 mg HDDC/m3, 6 hr per day. All rats, all female mice, and two of five male mice in the high-exposure group died before the end of the study. Surviving mice in this group had a dose-dependent depression in body weight gain. Clinical signs were primarily related to upper respiratory tract irritation and included dyspnea and nasal discharge in both species. Treatment-related histopathologic lesions included inflammation and necrosis of the laryngeal epithelium of both species and the tracheal epithelium of mice, as well as focal inflammation and ulceration of the respiratory and olfactory nasal mucosa. In the 13-week inhalation studies, animals were exposed to HDDC at concentrations of 1.6-160 mg/m3 for 6 hr per day, 5 days per week. In addition to the base study groups, a supplemental group of rats at each exposure level was included to assess the effect of HDDC on reproduction. No treatment-related changes in organ weights or organ-to-body-weight ratios occurred in rats, and no treatment-related clinical signs or gross lesions were seen in either species. Chemical-related microscopic lesions were limited to the upper respiratory tract (larynx and nasal passages) in the two highest exposure groups and were similar in both species. These lesions included minimal to mild focal erosion, ulceration, inflammation, and hyperplasia of the laryngeal epithelium, in addition to degeneration of the olfactory and respiratory nasal epithelium. HDDC caused no significant changes in sperm morphology or vaginal cytology and no significant adverse effects on reproduction in rats or mice. Hematologic and clinical chemistry changes in rats were minor and sporadic and were not accompanied by related histologic findings. HDDC did not increase the frequency of micronucleated erythrocytes in mice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Administration, Inhalation↗

Development and validation of a cellular transplant model for leukemia in Fischer rats: a short-term assay for potential anti-leukemic chemicals.

The efficacy of a leukemia cell transplant model to measure potential chemotherapeutic activity was tested with five different chemicals that had previously been evaluated in 2-year studies. Leukemic spleen cells from Fischer rats were injected subcutaneously into syngeneic recipients and the effects of chemical treatment on tumor progression were evaluated at 70 days post-transplant. The data from the short-term assay were in all cases correlated with the trends reported for mononuclear cell leukemia in 2-year studies, where two chemicals were reported to decrease the incidence and three chemicals were reported to increase the incidence of leukemia. Short-term treatment with the two chemicals which caused negative trends for leukemia (2-ethoxyethanol or ethylene glycol monoethyl ether; 4-hexylresorcinol) delayed and/or reduced tumor growth in the transplant model in a dose-related fashion, as exhibited by reduction or elimination of splenomegaly and leukoblastosis, and a reversal in the depression of red blood cell indices or platelet counts. By contrast, the rate of tumor progression was increased in the short-term assay of the three chemicals which previously caused increased trends for leukemia in 2-year studies (pyridine; 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, dichlorvos). The severity of the mononuclear cell leukemia in the transplant recipients, as measured by histopathological examination of spleen and liver, was correlated with the changes in tumor growth rates. The in vivo leukemia transplant model is a short-term assay that could be used to screen a variety of potential chemotherapeutic agents, or to study structure-activity relationships within one class of chemicals.

Animals↗

Evaluation of tissue disposition, myelopoietic, and immunologic responses in mice after long-term exposure to nickel sulfate in the drinking water.

Female B6C3F1 mice were exposed to graded doses of nickel sulfate to determine a threshold response for myelotoxicity and immunotoxicity, and to identify which of the populations of lymphoreticular cells were most sensitive to the toxic effects of nickel. Animals were given free access to the chemical in the drinking water at 0, 1, 5, or 10 g/l for 180 d. Water consumption, blood and tissue nickel concentrations, body and organ weights, histopathology, immune responses, bone marrow cellularity and proliferation, and cellular enzyme activities were evaluated. There was no mortality. Mice in the 5-g/l and 10-g/l dose groups drank less water than controls; the responses measured in the 10-g/l group may have been due to a combination of dehydration and chemical toxicity. Decreases in body and organ weights were confined to mice in the 10-g/l dose group, except for the dose-related reductions in thymus weights. Blood nickel was measured at 4, 8, 16, and 23 wk of exposure. The mean blood nickel values showed increases between 4 and 8 wk that were proportional to time and dose; thereafter there was no substantial increase in blood nickel in any of the dose groups, except for an increase in the mean blood concentration in the 10-g/l group at 23 wk. The kidney was the major organ of nickel accumulation. The primary toxic effects of nickel sulfate were expressed in the myeloid system. There were dose-related decreases in bone marrow cellularity, and in granulocyte-macrophage and pluripotent stem-cell proliferative responses. In unfractionated bone marrow cells glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase enzyme activity from the hexose monophosphate shunt was more sensitive to nickel sulfate than were representative glycolytic or Krebs cycle enzymes, with 25-35% maximum inhibition at 5 g/l and 10 g/l. Aliquots of bone marrow cells were separated into enriched bands of lymphocytes, granulocyte-macrophages, and erythrocytes; enzyme inhibition that occurred in unfractionated bone marrow cell aliquots was only expressed after cell separation in the enriched granulocyte-macrophage cell population, suggesting that these committed stem cells were a primary target of nickel sulfate toxicity. There was one example of systemic immunotoxicity, reduction in the lymphoproliferative response to lipopolysaccharide, and it was regarded as secondary to the primary effect of nickel sulfate on the myeloid system, since this was the only significant change among a panel of seven immune parameters that were evaluated.

Animals↗

Metabolic characterization of mouse bone marrow cells responsive to estrogenic inhibition: hexose monophosphate shunt enzyme activity in enriched populations of mature cells and progenitor cells.

Compounds with estrogenic activity cause initial toxic responses in the bone marrow characterized by hypocellularity and stem cell myelotoxicity. To elucidate the biochemical nature of these toxic responses, bone marrow cells were collected from mice treated with pharmacological doses of estrogenic chemicals, separated into enriched cell populations, and the enzymatic responses of the individual cell types characterized. Female B6C3F1 mice were injected s.c. with five daily doses of 0.07-5.6 mu moles diethylstilbestrol (DES) or 17-beta estradiol. At 4 days posttreatment body and organ weights were recorded and bone marrow was collected for enumeration and assay of stem cell proliferative responses and enzyme analyses. Treatment with higher dose levels of either estrogenic chemical caused equivalent thymic atrophy, but DES resulted in greater liver and spleen hypertrophy than estradiol. Hexose monophosphate shunt dehydrogenase enzymes in unfractionated bone marrow cells were more sensitive to inhibition by lower estrogen doses than representative enzymes from glycolysis of the Kreb's Cycle, and on an equimolar basis were inhibited to a greater extent by DES than by estradiol. Enzyme analyses after density gradient cell separation indicated that 70-80% of the hexose monophosphate shunt enzyme activity in bone marrow from untreated mice occurred in the enriched band of cells containing predominantly granulocyte-macrophages. The majority of the enzyme inhibition induced by DES treatment could also be ascribed to this cellular population. Furthermore, it was shown that DES had a greater inhibitory effect on the proliferative capacity of the committed stem cells than on the multipotential stem cell population, and the main response was again expressed in the enriched band of cells containing predominantly granulocyte-macrophage precursors. Preliminary endocrine ablation experiments indicated estrogen inhibition of hexose monophosphate shunt enzyme activity was independent of the adrenal and the ovary, but was mediated through the thymus at lower estrogen concentrations.

Adrenalectomy↗

Biochemical markers for Fischer rat leukemia in a cell transplant model.

Cellular glucose-metabolizing enzymes and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) have been utilized as biochemical markers of mononuclear cell (MNC) leukemia maintained by serial cell transplantation in F344 rats. We have evaluated the sensitivity and reproducibility of these tumor markers in comparison to other diagnostic criteria of leukemia. Weanling rats were injected with 2 X 10(7) leukemic spleen MNC and sampled at 6, 35, 63, and 83 days. At 6 days, the glycolytic enzyme activities from spleen that decreased were believed to be residual activity from injected leukemic MNC. Glycolytic enzyme activities in spleen MNC were normal at 35 days and no changes in blood MNC enzyme activity occurred at 6 days or 35 days. At 63 days, prior to clinical evidence of leukemia, glucose-metabolizing enzymes from spleen MNC changed, and there were decreases in AChE from both blood and spleen MNC that progressively decreased at 83 days, when there was depressed body weight, splenomegaly, elevated WBC, depressed RBC, hypoglycemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and elevated serum enzyme levels. Separation of leukemic MNC from blood and spleen enhances sensitivity of cellular enzyme responses and provides a reproducible model to study biochemical markers correlated with severity of leukemia.

Acetylcholinesterase↗