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Biomedical subjects

M E Varnes

Publications and source records attributed to M E Varnes.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

pH-dependent effects of the ionophore nigericin on response of mammalian cells to radiation and heat treatment.

The extracellular pH (pHe) in many solid tumors is often lower than the pH of normal tissues. The K+/H+ ionophore nigericin is toxic to CHO cells when pHe is below but not above 6.5, and thus it has potential for selective killing of tumor cells in an acidic environment. This study examines the pH-dependent effects of nigericin on the response of CHO cells to radiation and heat treatment. Cells held for 4 h in Hank's balanced salt solution, after 9 Gy irradiation, exhibit potentially lethal damage recovery (PLDR) which is maximal at pHe 6.7-6.8. Addition of nigericin, postirradiation, not only inhibits PLDR when pHe is below 6.8, but interacts synergistically with radiation to reduce survival below that of cells plated immediately after irradiation when pHe is 6.4 or lower. Nigericin enhances heat killing of CHO cells perferentially under acidic conditions, and where neither heat nor drug treatment alone is significantly toxic. Survival of cells held for 30 min at 42.1 degrees C in the presence of 1.0 microgram/ml nigericin is 0.6, 0.08, 0.003, and 0.00003 at pHe 7.4, 6.8, 6.6, and 6.4, respectively, relative to survival of 1.0 in untreated cultures. The biochemical effects of nigericin at pHe 7.4 vs pHe 6.4 have been investigated. Nigericin inhibits respiration, stimulates glucose consumption, and causes dramatic changes in intracellular concentrations of Na+ and K+ at pHe 7.4 as well as 6.4. The drug reduces intracellular levels of ATP, GTP, and ADP but has more pronounced effects under acidic incubation conditions. Others have shown that nigericin equilibrates pHe and intracellular pH (pHi) only when pHe is 6.5 or lower. Our observations and those of others have led us to conclude that lowering of pHi by nigericin is either the direct or indirect cause of enhancement of radiation and heat killing of cells in an acidic environment.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Inhibition of pentose cycle of A549 cells by 6-aminonicotinamide: consequences for aerobic and hypoxic radiation response and for radiosensitizer action.

Metabolism of glucose via the pentose cycle is a principal source of NADPH, an important cellular reducing species. Both aerobic and hypoxic irradiation stimulate the pentose cycle activity of A549 human lung carcinoma cells, which indicates that NADPH is utilized during irradiation, either as a direct hydrogen donor or as a cofactor for enzymatic repair of radiation damage. To evaluate the role of the pentose cycle in radiation response, we treated A549 cells with 6-aminonicotinamide (6-AN), which blocks the oxidative limb of this pathway in some cell lines. We found 6-AN to be a very effective inhibitor of pentose cycle activity, as indicated both by accumulation of 6-phosphogluconate in A549 cells and by the inability of nitrofurazone or peroxide to stimulate release of 14CO2 from 14C-1-labeled glucose after 6-AN treatment. Effects of 6-AN were time and concentration dependent; it caused partial inhibition of glycolysis but had no effect on respiratory rate or on intracellular glutathione levels. Effects of 6-AN on radiation response were examined under two conditions: 1) after treatment with 0.3 mM drug for 5 hours, which inhibited pentose cycle activity by 50%, and 2) after treatment for 15 hours, which completely inhibited pentose cycle activity. Neither treatment affected aerobic radiation response, but both increased hypoxic sensitivity to a similar extent, with the oxygen enhancement ratio reduced from 3.0 to 2.0 at a 0.05 surviving fraction. Treatment of A549 cells with 6-AN caused an increase in hypoxic cell radiosensitization by misonidazole, but effects of the combined agents were not more than additive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

6-Aminonicotinamide↗
PubMed1988

Factors influencing the oxidation of the radioprotector WR-1065.

N-(2-Mercaptoethyl)-1,3-diaminopropane (WR-1065) is the free thiol form of the radio- and chemoprotector S-2-(3-aminopropylamino)ethylphosphorothioic acid (WR-2721). Interest currently exists in the clinical use of WR-2721 and WR-1065 as radio- and chemoprotectors of normal tissues. However, measurement of plasma levels of WR-1065 has proven difficult, due to rapid drug oxidation. Therefore, we studied factors influencing the oxidation of WR-1065, in Hepes-buffered saline as well as in tissue culture media containing 10% fetal bovine serum. The rate of oxygen consumption by WR-1065, as determined using the Clark oxygen electrode system, was faster in medium plus serum than in Hepes-buffered saline. That this effect is largely due to the presence of trace metal ions in tissue culture media and serum was indicated by the observation that addition of Cu2+ or Fe3+ to buffer stimulated oxygen consumption. Addition of KCN inhibited the reaction of WR-1065 with oxygen, and this effect was dependent on KCN concentration. That KCN blocked WR-1065 oxidation to the disulfide was verified using Ellman's reagent to quantitate the free thiol form. The rate of oxygen consumption was shown to be affected by temperature as well as concentration of WR-1065. Catalase reduced the rate of oxygen consumption of WR-1065, indicating that peroxide is formed in this system. Superoxide dismutase had a stimulatory effect. WR-1065 was found to stimulate the hexose monophosphate shunt in A549 cells. Since this stimulation was prevented by the presence of catalase, it appeared to be due to the response of the cells to peroxide, formed as a result of WR-1065 autooxidation.

Mercaptoethylamines↗
PubMed1986

Biochemistry of reduction of nitro heterocycles.

Misonidazole is a metabolically active drug. Its addition to cells causes an immediate alteration in cellular electron transfer pathways. Under aerobic conditions the metabolic alterations can result in futile cycling with electron transfer to oxygen and production of peroxide. Thiol levels are extremely important in protecting the cell against the peroxide formation and potentially hazardous conditions for hydroxyl radical production. Nevertheless such electron shunting out of cellular metabolism will result in alterations in pentose cycle, glycolysis and cellular capacity to reduce metabolites to essential intermediates needed in DNA metabolism (i.e. deoxyribonucleotides). Glutathione must be depleted to very low levels before toxic effects of misonidazole and other nitro compounds are manifested in cell death via peroxidative damage. Under hypoxic conditions misonidazole also diverts the pentose cycle via its own reduction; however, unlike the aerobic conditions, there are a number of reductive intermediates produced that react with non-protein thiols such as GSH as well as protein thiols. The reaction with protein thiols results in the inhibition of glycolysis and other as yet undetermined enzyme systems. The consequences of the hypoxic pretreatment of cells with nitro compounds are increased vulnerability to radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs such as L-PAM, cis-platinum and bleomycin. The role that altered enzyme activity has in the cellular response to misonidazole and chemotherapeutic agents remains to be determined. It is also clear that the GSH depleted state not only makes cells more vulnerable to oxidative stress but also to hypoxic intermediates produced by the reduction of misonidazole beyond the one electron stage. The relevancy of the present work to the proposed use of thiol depletion in vivo to enhance the radiation or chemotherapeutic response of tumor tissue lies with the following considerations. Apparently, spontaneous peroxidative damage to normal tissue such as liver can occur with GSH depletion to 10-20% of control and with other normal tissue when GSH reaches 50% of control. This situation can obviously become more critical if peroxide producing drugs are administered. The only advantage to such combined drug treatments would lie in the possibility that tumors vary in their catalase and peroxidase activity and consequently may be more vulnerable to oxidative stress (cf. review by Meister. Our tumor model, the A549 human lung carcinoma cell in vitro, appears to be an exception because it has catalase, peroxidase and a high content of GSH.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1986

The effect of L-buthionine sulfoximine on the aerobic radiation response of A549 human lung carcinoma cells.

Our data show that A549 cells are increasingly radiosensitive with prolonged exposure to L-BSO. The resulting glutathione and protein thiol depleted cells show both loss of shoulder and slope modification. Furthermore, there is an increase in single strand DNA breaks and irrepairable cross-linking. The aerobic radiation damage in the thiol depleted state appears to be different from that obtained with hypoxic cells. Any postulated role for GSH in reducing or preventing peroxidative radiation damage must also include protection against single strand DNA breaks as well as involvement in repairing DNA-protein cross-links. The latter effect may be related to decreased protein thiol content as reflected in a decreased enzyme capacity to repair DNA damage.

Buthionine Sulfoximine↗
PubMed1986

Enhancement in the aerobic toxicity of misonidazole and SR-2508 by buthionine sulfoximine and 4-hydroxypyrazole: the role of hydrogen peroxide.

Chronic aerobic exposure of A549 human lung carcinoma cell cultures to 0.1 mM L-buthionine-S,R-sulfoximine and 1 mM misonidazole, or 1 mM SR-2508 results in inhibition of cell growth and decreased clonogenic survival. These patterns are not apparent with the individual drug treatments. Both parameters demonstrate maximum toxicity after 72 hr in culture, which parallels the time required to deplete A549 cells of glutathione with 0.1 mM L-BSO under these growth conditions. Toxicity appears to be related to hydrogen peroxide-produced during 1 electron reduction of the nitro compounds in the presence of oxygen. A549 cells have a lowered capacity to reduce peroxide due to the effect of thiol depletion on the enzymes GSH-peroxidase and GSH-S-transferase, which require the tripeptide as a substrate. The addition of catalase, another important enzyme involved in peroxide reduction, partially reverses the observed toxicity. 4-Hydroxypyrazole, which inhibits endogenous catalase activity, causes an increase in the observed cytotoxicity. Similar effects of L-BSO and 4-hydroxypyrazole are seen for toxicity due to hydrogen peroxide being added directly to cell cultures.

Buthionine Sulfoximine↗
PubMed1986

The effect of pH on potentially lethal damage recovery in A549 cells.

The radiation sensitivity and potentially lethal damage recovery (PLDR) capacity of A549 human lung carcinoma cells have been studied. For unfed monolayer cultures, radiation sensitivity was greater in plateau phase than in log phase of growth. PLDR was observed when plateau-phase cells were held in their own spent medium postirradiation, such that the dose-response curve with 24 h holding was similar to that for log-phase cells plated immediately after irradiation. The high PLDR capacity of A549 plateau-phase cells (recovery factor between 40 and 70 for 24 h holding after 10 Gy) was reduced 10-fold or more by alkalinizing the pH of the spent medium immediately after irradiation from a value of 6.5 +/- 0.1 to a value of 7.6. Medium alkalinization resulted in an increase in the rate of glycolysis, with subsequent reacidification to a pH of 7.3 within 2 h of the pH adjustment. No change in cell cycle distribution was observed in the plateau-phase cultures up to 32 h after change of medium pH, and no increase in cell density was found after 48 h. A slight increase in the rate of incorporation of radiolabeled thymidine into acid-precipitable material was observed at 4 and 24 h after alkalinization of the medium. While it is not possible at present to define a mechanism for this pH effect, our results demonstrate that, at least for this cell line, variables such as medium pH and glucose concentration can profoundly influence the observation of PLDR.

Cell Line↗
PubMed1984

Nitroheterocycle metabolism in mammalian cells. Stimulation of the hexose monophosphate shunt.

Misonidazole, SR-2508, nitrofurazone and other nitroheterocycles stimulated release of 14CO2 from [1-14C]glucose but not from [6-14C]glucose when incubated with mouse Ehrlich ascites cells or human A549 lung carcinoma cells in vitro. This demonstrated that the nitro compounds activated the hexose monophosphate shunt and is evidence that an important pathway of nitro reduction in these cell lines is electron transfer from NADPH-dependent cytochrome c reductase to the nitro group. Shunt activity was stimulated under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. For catalase-free Ehrlich cells, aerobic effects were greater than anaerobic, indicating that NADPH was used for reduction of H2O2, via GSH peroxidase and reductase, as well as for one-electron nitro reduction, under aerobic conditions. Several of the compounds tested stimulated 14CO2 release from [2-14C]glucose as well as from [1-14C]-glucose. This shows that the cellular requirement for NADPH, in the presence of nitro drug, was great enough to cause recycling of pentose phosphates. Recycling could decrease the availability of ribose-5-P needed for nucleic acid synthesis, which could partly explain the inhibition of DNA synthesis observed upon prolonged aerobic incubation of cells with nitro compounds. Comparison of the rate of disappearance of nitrofurazone from anaerobic A549 cell suspensions with the rate of 14CO2 release suggests that the drug reduction in this cell line was catalyzed almost entirely by NADPH-requiring enzymes.

Anaerobiosis↗
PubMed1984

Factors involved in depletion of glutathione from A549 human lung carcinoma cells: implications for radiotherapy.

We have measured the rate of GSH resynthesis in plateau phase cultures of A549 human lung carcinoma cells subjected to a fresh medium change. Buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) blocks this resynthesis. Diethyl maleate (DEM) causes a decrease in accumulation of GSH. If DEM is added concurrently with BSO there is a rapid decline in GSH that is maximal in the presence of 0.5 mM DEM. GSH depletion rapidly occurs when BSO is added to log phase cultures which initially are higher in GSH content. Twenty-four hr treatment of A549 cells with BSO results in cells that are more radiosensitive in air and show a slight hypoxic radiation response. A 2 hr treatment with either 0.25 mM or 0.5 mM DEM results in some hypoxic sensitization and little increase in the aerobic radiation response. The 24 hr BSO + 2 hr DEM treatment sensitizes hypoxic cells to a greater degree than either agent alone but does not increase the aerobic response more than is seen with BSO alone. Cells treated simultaneously with BSO + DEM show little increase in the hypoxic radiation response, compared to DEM alone, but are more sensitive under aerobic conditions. Decreased cell survival for aerobically irradiated log phase A549 cells occurs within minutes after addition of a mixture of BSO + DEM. The decreased cell survival following aerobic irradiation, after prolonged treatment with BSO or acute exposure to BSO + DEM, may be in part due to inhibition of glutathione peroxidases. For example, glutathione-S-transferase, known to have glutathione peroxidase activity (non-selenium), is nearly completely inhibited by the BSO treatments. In addition, cellular capacity to react with peroxide (glutathione peroxidase, selenium containing) was also inhibited. We suggest that the enhanced aerobic radiation response is related to an inability of GSH depleted cells to inactivate either peroxy radicals or hydroperoxides that may be produced during irradiation of BSO treated cells. Furthermore, enhancement of the aerobic radiation response may be useful in vivo if normal tissue responses are not also increased.

Buthionine Sulfoximine↗