A simple cryopreservation method for the maintenance of cell viability and mechanical integrity of a cultured cartilage analog.

A method for cryopreserving a 100-microm-thick sheet of tissue produced by cultured rabbit chondrocytes has been developed. The method maintains cell viability and avoids tissue fracture and degradation of mechanical properties. A slow-freeze, fast-thaw procedure with 2 M Me(2)SO as the cryoprotectant resulted in no tissue fracture and approximately 90% viable cells after storage in culture flasks at -80 degrees C. The cells in the retrieved tissue remained responsive to IL-1beta, and tensile and fracture toughness properties of the tissue were not degraded by cryopreservation.

Mercuric salt-catalyzed removal of unsaturated glucuronic acid from chondroitinase-treated proteochondroitin sulfate.

Aggrecan (PG) was isolated from Swarm rat chondrosarcoma and the chondroitin 4-sulfate removed with chondroitinase ABC (ABC) or ACII (AC), leaving a 4-deoxy-beta-d-gluc-4-enuronosyl (DeltaGlcA) residue on the nonreducing terminus of the attached chondroitin sulfate chains. Mercuric acetate (as low as 5 mm) removed the DeltaGlcA from the PG-ABC within 10 min at 25 degrees C at pH 5.0, and the rate was pH independent between pH 3.0 and 5.0. The reaction was readily monitored by following the loss of reactivity to the monoclonal antibodies specific for 4-sulfated and nonsulfated unsaturated disaccharides in ELISA. After mercury treatment, there was a loss of carbazole-positive material and a decrease in the size of the linkage region oligosaccharides consistent with DeltaGlcA being removed. Aside from the loss of DeltaGlcA, neutral sugar composition and sialic acid content remained unchanged. After electrophoresis in a 4% polyacrylamide gel, Hg-treated PG-ABC and PG-AC migrated as single major bands, but with reduced mobilities, which is consistent with a loss of charge. There was a loss of reactivity to specific monoclonal antibodies. Treated aggrecan did not bind hyaluronic acid. This loss was not completely prevented by being present in a complex with link protein and hyaluronic acid. However, link protein could partially restore the hyaluronic acid interaction, so the effect of mercuric acetate on biological function will have to be assessed on an individual basis. Treatment with mercuric acetate is an effective, rapid, reproducible way of removing DeltaGlcA from both chondroitinase ABC and ACII-digested proteoglycan.

Interferon induces sleep and other CNS responses in mice recovering from hexobarbital anesthesia.

Immediately after recovery from hexobarbital anesthesia, mice were injected intraperitoneally with one of the following interferons: natural mouse alpha/beta, recombinant mouse (rmouse gamma IFN-A) or human alpha A, alpha D, alpha AD interferon (rHu alpha IFN-A, rHu alpha IFN-D, rHu alpha IFN-AD). All of these interferons, except rHu alpha IFN-A induced unconsciousness ("sleep"); all produced stimulatory effects that mimicked those produced by morphine in the mouse. Quantification of the duration of sleep, induced by rmouse gamma IFN, was investigated and found to be dose-related. Only 3 of the 5 interferons (mouse alpha/beta IFN; rmouse gamma IFN, rHu alpha IFN-AD) possesses antiviral activity and depresses the cytochrome P-450 system in the mouse, yet all 5 of the interferons produced CNS effects. This partition of effects, together with the very short latency of the interferon-induced CNS effects, shows that the CNS effects were mechanistically independent of the anti-viral and anti-cytochrome P-450 effects. This disparity of the actions of the interferons suggests the possibility that selected morphine antagonists could be used to counter some of the dose-limiting CNS effects of the large doses of interferons used in clinical situations.

Identification of the antibiotic hops component, colupulone, as an inducer of hepatic cytochrome P-4503A in the mouse.

A higher level of cytochrome P-450 (P450)-dependent ethylmorphine (EM) N-demethylase activity was observed in hepatic microsomes from mice fed a natural-ingredient diet ("crude diet") than in those from mice fed a semi-purified diet ("purified diet"). This led to the testing of individual ingredients of the crude diet as inducers of the P-450 system. Brewers yeast proved to be the most significant inductive component of the crude diet. Further investigation revealed that hop components (lupulones) absorbed on yeast during the brewing process were responsible for the induction of the P-450 system. The induction of P-450 and several P-450-dependent monooxygenase activities (EM N-demethylation, aniline hydroxylation, benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylation) by colupulone with respect to dose and time course were investigated. The very large increase in EM N-demethylase activity elicited by colupulone suggested that P-4503A had been induced. Western blot technology verified this speculation. Western blot analysis of microsomal protein from mice fed hops, brewers yeast, or the residue of a hexane extract of hops supported the conclusion that all of these substances induced P-4503A. These substances were also relatively good inducers of P-4502B, but not as inductive of this isozyme as the crude diet. This is interpreted to mean that not all of the inductive properties of the crude diet are due to hop components. These studies question the use of crude commercial diets in studies of P-450 systems. They may also challenge some current definitions of "constitutive" and "induced" P-450s.

Analysis of heparan sulfate from the Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) tumor.

The size of the heparan sulfate chains from the Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) tumor heparan sulfate proteoglycan (PG) was measured by several techniques in order to resolve uncertainty about their size and the chains were chemically characterized for comparison with other basement membrane heparan sulfate PGs. Heparan sulfate size was determined by gel filtration (Mr = 5.5 - 6.0 x 10(4], by equilibrium sedimentation centrifugation (Mw = 6.8 x 10(4], and by end group analysis (Mn = 7.1 x 10(4]. A higher molecular weight (HMW) (Mw = 2.13 x 10(5] calculated from scattering measurements may reflect chain-chain interactions. Forty percent of newly synthesized chains eluted on gel filtration as a lower molecular weight (LMW) shoulder and in vivo turned over faster than the larger species. A large heparan sulfate PG was present after 4 hours of in vivo 35SO4 labeling in both a low density form and a high density, slightly smaller form with large heparan sulfate chains (Mr approximately 8.0 x 10(4]. Heparan sulfate PG of intermediate size (Kav = 0.3-0.65, Sepharose CL-4B) and of smaller size (Kav = 0.75, CL-4B) were found predominantly as high density species. These PGs contained chains (Mr = 3.5 x 10(4) and Mr = 1.2 x 10(4), respectively) which were partially sensitive to chondroitinase ABC (CABC) and may include a hybrid heparan sulfate/chondroitin sulfate PG. Heparan sulfate chains, possibly intracellular degradation products, were also found. Heparan sulfate chains were normal in N-sulfation (58% of hexosamine residues) and in iduronate content (approximately 30%). N-sulfation started within two disaccharides of the linkage region. The EHS heparan sulfate was unusually low in O-sulfation (10% of the total sulfation) and no 6-O sulfated, N-acetylated glucosamine residues adjacent to N-sulfated block regions were found.

Role of xanthine oxidase in the interferon-mediated depression of the hepatic cytochrome P-450 system in mice.

Interferon, interferon inducers, and a variety of other immunomodulators are known to depress the hepatic cytochrome P-450 drug-metabolizing system. Two concepts have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. (a) The steady-state of cytochrome P-450 is altered through decreased synthesis and increased degradation of cytochrome P-450 apoprotein. (b) Interferon induces xanthine oxidase; superoxide generated by interferon-induced xanthine oxidase destroys cytochrome P-450. The current study investigated the second concept. Administered polyribonucleotides [polyriboinosinic acid.polyribocytidylic acid (poly IC), polyriboinosinic acid.polycytidylic acid, polylysine and carboxymethylcellulose, mismatched poly IC], recombinant murine gamma-interferon, and a natural murine alpha/beta-interferon were shown to depress hepatic cytochrome P-450 and selected microsomal cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenase reactions and to induce hepatic xanthine oxidase activity. The feeding of tungstate in the drinking water largely depleted xanthine oxidase in mice; cytochrome P-450 levels and monooxygenase activities were not affected by tungstate treatment. Tungstate rendered the level of xanthine oxidase much below that in mice that had not received tungstate regardless of whether or not they had received poly IC or interferon; nevertheless, poly IC and interferon produced losses of cytochrome P-450 and monooxygenase activities in these tungstate-treated mice equivalent to those observed in mice that had not received tungstate. The administration of N-acetylcysteine did not prevent the loss of cytochrome P-450 induced by poly IC, as has been reported, nor did the incubation of microsomal cytochrome P-450 with buttermilk xanthine oxidase and hypoxanthine cause a loss of cytochrome P-450, which has also been reported. It is concluded from these studies that the induction of xanthine oxidase and the loss of cytochrome P-450 generated by interferon are coincidental rather than causally related phenomena.

The pharmacology and toxicology of the interferons: an overview.

Interferon was discovered three decades ago. The next 20 or more years of research were directed largely toward an understanding of its antiviral activity. The persistent short supply of interferon hampered progress, and the impure preparations available throughout these years clouded interpretation of results. Many of the experiments and clinical studies that interferonologists had dreamed of for 20 or more years became realities when modern technology provided quantities of pure interferon that exceeded expectations. Studies with these pure recombinant interferons removed all doubts that the many pleiotropic effects that had been observed with impure interferon preparations were due to interferon and not to the impurities. The interferons are now acknowledged lymphokines that are involved in many cellular processes. In fact, the antiviral activity of interferon, which led to its discovery, may be an exaggerated adaptive utilization of an interferon-regulated function that plays a more general role in cellular physiology. The ability to isolate, purify, and produce pure interferon has led to the discovery of multiple species of leukocyte interferon. These interferons display different patterns of activity when tested by a variety of systems. This suggests that specific leukocyte interferons may be involved in specific physiological functions. Results of preliminary trials of the interferons as antiviral and antitumor agents have been encouraging and occasionally dramatic. The overall clinical picture is expected to improve when more is learned about the pharmacokinetics of the interferons and which of the interferons are best suited for the treatment of specific tumors and antiviral diseases. There are indications that coadministration of interferons with chemical antineoplastic and antiviral agents may increase the effectiveness of interferon in clinical situations. As might be expected of agents that influence a large number of physiological functions, interferons produce numerous toxic side effects, some of which resemble those inflicted by viral diseases. These side effects are reversible and not life threatening.

Effects of interferon-inducing agents on hepatic cytochrome P-450 drug metabolizing systems.

Duration and intensity of drug action are greatly influenced by the rates of which drugs are biotransformed by the cytochrome P-450-linked monooxygenase systems of the hepatic endoplasmic reticulum. Several interferon-inducing agents (poly rI.rC, tilorone, vaccines, viruses, endotoxin) are shown to markedly depress hepatic P-450 systems when administered to rodents. The interferon (IF) inducers that depress hepatic drug metabolism also modulate certain immune responses; it is therefore not known whether the depression of P-450 is due to IF per se or to the action of IF-inducing agents on one or more components of the immune system. The loss of cytochrome P-450 elicited by IF-inducing agents is accompanied by a perturbation of heme metabolism associated with the dissociation of heme from cytochrome P-450. The agents also cause losses of hepatic catalase and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase. These studies predict that viral infections, vaccinations, and treatment with IF-inducing agents will be shown to seriously impair the metabolism of drugs in humans.