Flow-cytometric analysis on cytotoxic effect of thimerosal, a preservative in vaccines, on lymphocytes dissociated from rat thymic glands.

There is a concern on the part of public health community that adverse health consequence by thimerosal, a preservative in vaccines for infants, may occur among infants during immunization schedule. Therefore, the cytotoxic action of thimerosal was examined on lymphocytes dissociated from thymic glands of young rats using a flow cytometer and respective fluorescent probes for monitoring changes in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and membrane potential, and for discriminating intact living cells, apoptotic living cells and dead cells. Incubation with thimerosal at 3 microM or more (up to 30 microM) for 60 min depolarized the membranes, associated with increasing the [Ca2+]i. Thimerosal at 30 microM induced an apoptotic change in membranes of almost all living cells. Furthermore, the prolonged incubation with 30 microM thimerosal induced a loss of membrane integrity, leading to cell death. Since the blood concentration of thimerosal after receiving vaccines is theoretically submicromolar, it may be unlikely that thimerosal affects lymphocytes of infants.

Tri-n-butyltin-induced cytotoxicity on rat thymocytes in presence and absence of serum.

Influence of fetal bovine serum (FBS) on cytotoxicity induced by tri-n-butyltin (TBT), an environmental pollutant, on rat thymocytes was examined to reveal how FBS modifies TBT cytotoxicity. As the medium FBS concentration was increased from 0 to 10%, the cytotoxicity of TBT was dose-dependently reduced when the cells were incubated with 1 microM TBT for 3 h. Almost complete inhibitions of TBT-induced changes in cell viability and population of cells with exposed phosphatidylserine (cells undergoing apoptosis) were observed when the FBS concentration was 10%. Thus, the cytotoxicity induced by 3 h incubation with TBT in FBS-free medium may be different from that in medium containing 10% FBS. However, even in presence of 10% FBS, TBT at concentrations ranging from 10 to 300 nM exerted cytotoxic action on rat thymocytes when the cells were incubated with TBT for 24 h. TBT dose-dependently increased the population of shrunken cells, of which more than 30% were stained with propidium. TBT at 30 nM or more significantly increased the population of cells with hypodiploid DNA, indicating TBT-induced apoptotic cell death. Thus, in the presence of 10% FBS, the prolonged incubation (24 h) of rat thymocytes with TBT at nanomolar concentrations induced apoptosis rather than necrosis.

Property of thimerosal-induced decrease in cellular content of glutathione in rat thymocytes: a flow cytometric study with 5-chloromethylfluorescein diacetate.

There is a concern on the part of public health community that adverse health consequences by thimerosal, a preservative in vaccines for infants, may occur among infants during immunization schedule. Therefore, the effect of thimerosal on cellular content of glutathione was examined on thymocytes obtained from 4-week-old rats using a flow cytometer and 5-chloromethylfluorescein diacetate. Thimerosal at concentrations ranging from 1 to 10 microM reduced the cellular content of glutathione in a concentration-dependent manner, and the complete depletion of cellular glutathione was observed when the cells were treated with 30 microM thimerosal. L-Cysteine significantly attenuated the actions of thimerosal to reduce the glutathione content and to increase the intracellular Ca2+ concentration. Prolonged incubation (24 h) with 1-3 microM thimerosal induced the apoptosis. The cytotoxic action of thimerosal was greatly augmented when the cells suffered oxidative stress induced by H2O2. It may be unlikely that thimerosal exerts potent cytotoxic action under the in vivo condition because the blood concentration of thimerosal after receiving vaccines does not seem to reach micromolar range and nonprotein thiols at micromolar concentrations are present in the blood.