Chromosome aberration frequency in rat peripheral lymphocytes increases with repeated dosing with hexamethylphosphoramide or cyclophosphamide.

Although there are several in vivo tests for potential genotoxicity, with the possible exception of the transgenic rodent mutation models, none is specifically intended to assess increasing damage with chronic administration. In principle, peripheral blood lymphocytes would be expected to accumulate DNA damage with repeated dosing because the majority are not in active division and appear to have limited DNA repair capability, and they are exposed to plasma levels of test materials and metabolites. However, there appear to be no published reports confirming this principle. Therefore, in the current study, after optimising culture conditions for rat lymphocytes in this laboratory, rats were given oral doses of cyclophosphamide or hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) for up to 28 days and peripheral lymphocytes analysed for chromosome aberrations at various time points. The results clearly show that, for both compounds, doses that gave no significant increases in aberration frequency after 2 days induced clear increases after 15 days with further damage detectable after 28 doses. With HMPA, it was shown that DNA damage persisted for at least 10 days after cessation of treatment. These data show that repeat dose studies in the rat measuring chromosome aberration frequency in lymphocytes can give a genuine indication that genotoxicity may increase with chronic administration and, therefore, maybe useful in assessing the risk of potentially genotoxic substances.

A reverse genetic screen in Drosophila using a deletion-inducing mutagen.

We report the use of the cross-linking drug hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA), which introduces small deletions, as a mutagen suitable for reverse genetics in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. A compatible mutation-detection method based on resolution of PCR fragment-length polymorphisms on standard DNA sequencers is implemented. As the spectrum of HMPA-induced mutations is similar in a variety of organisms, it should be possible to transfer this mutagenesis and detection procedure to other model systems.

An analysis of dimethylsulfoxide-induced action potential block: a comparative study of DMSO and other aliphatic water soluble solutes.

A series of water soluble aliphatic solutes were chosen for study. Fifty percent effective doses (ED50) to block propagated compound action potentials (AP's) were obtained by examining dose-response relations for each solute. All solutes used were liquids at room temperature and are typically used as solvents. The solutes studied were dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethylacetamide, acetone, and hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA); the octanol/water partition coefficients for these test substances form an ordered sequence that increased 40-fold from DMSO to HMPA. AP's were recorded from desheathed frog sciatic nerves using the sucrose-gap technique; test solutes were added to Ringer's solution and applied externally to the nerve. ED50's for the solutes could be predicted as a function of the molar volume (dV/dn), polarity (P), and the hydrogen bond acceptor basicity (beta). Voltage-clamp experiments employing the vaseline-gap technique on single muscle fibers showed that each solute reduced Na+ current with little change in their kinetics at all voltages studied. Experiments using DMSO or DMF showed that Na+ channel block alone is insufficient to explain the respective ED50 values of AP block. Experiments conducted using a chloride transport-sensitive membrane fluidity assay, using rat pancreas secretory granules, suggested that each of the solutes act to increase membrane fluidity at doses below and above ED50 values. Light microscopic observations of fixed thick sections of whole nerves previously exposed to DMSO or DMF show structural changes; however, ED50 values cannot be simply explained by osmotic alterations of nerve structure. ED50's are likely to be produced by a combination of effects including osmotically induced nerve structural changes, ion channel block, and fluidity changes. The toxicity (lethal doses or toxic concentrations) of each of these five solutes correlates well with the ED50 and could be predicted as a function of dV/dn, P, and beta.

DNA-protein crosslink formation in rat nasal epithelial cells by hexamethylphosphoramide and its correlation with formaldehyde production.

Hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) is an aprotic polar solvent and nasal carcinogen in rats. The metabolism of HMPA to formaldehyde, another nasal carcinogen in rats, was found to be approximately 6 times greater in microsomes from olfactory tissues than from respiratory tissues (isolated from both male and female rats). HMPA was shown to induce formation of DNA-protein crosslinks (DPXLS) in isolated rat nasal epithelial cells. Using a filter binding assay, we demonstrated that microsomal activation is necessary for HMPA-induced crosslink formation between plasmid DNA and calf thymus histones, presumably through metabolic N-demethylation of HMPA and the formation of formaldehyde. Both formaldehyde production and DPXL formation were inhibited by pre-incubation of nasal mucosal extracts with metyrapone, an inhibitor of cytochrome P-450. Significant dose-dependent increases in DPXL formation were observed in respiratory and olfactory epithelial cells exposed to > or = 0.5 and 1 mM HMPA, respectively, for 3 h at 37 degrees C. This resulted in DPXL accumulation at 18-20% higher levels than untreated cells. Increases in DPXL formation in rat nasal epithelial cells cultured with 1 mM HMPA were inhibited by over 70% by co-administration of metyrapone. These data suggest that metabolic liberation of formaldehyde from HMPA is involved in the mechanism of HMPA-induced nasal carcinogenesis. Comparative studies showed formaldehyde to be more potent than HMPA in the induction of DPXL in nasal epithelium. However, induction of tumor formation after two years at 50 ppb HMPA and 6 ppm formaldehyde show the former to be active at several-fold lower concentrations. Therefore, other mechanisms are likely to be involved in HMPA nasal carcinogenesis.

The cross-linking agent hexamethylphosphoramide predominantly induces intra-locus and multi-locus deletions in postmeiotic germ cells of Drosophila.

The nature of DNA sequence changes induced by the cross-linking agent hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) within and in the vicinity of the vermilion locus of Drosophila melanogaster that produce a vermilion mutant phenotype was analyzed after exposure of postmeiotic male germ cells. Mutagenized males were mated to either females wild-type (exr+) for nucleotide excision repair (NER) or to females having a deficiency (exr-) for NER. Rearrangements, mostly deletions, represented by far the most frequent type of mutational events induced by HMPA that are detected as vermilion mutations. In the exr+ group, all but one (a double substitution) of 21 mutants characterized were large sequence changes: we found 5 intra-locus deletions, 3 intra-locus deletions associated with insertions and 12 multi-locus deletions. When taken together, deletions and deletion/insertion mutations represent 96% of the HMPA-induced DNA modifications obtained under proficient repair conditions. Of the 10 mutants obtained from crosses with exr- females, 6 intra-locus and 2 multi-locus deletions were found, as opposed to just 1 point mutation and 1 double substitution. The "hypomutability effect" observed with exr- genotypes in relation to the wild type seems to be caused by a decrease in the frequency of multi-locus deletions in the former group. The results suggest that the NER system is involved in the generation of multi-locus deletions, whereas intra-locus deletions appear to be formed through a postreplication slipped-misrepair pathway. It is concluded that an eukaryotic in vivo system with no limitations for the recovery of multi-locus deletions, such as vermilion, should be used for the analysis of DNA damage induced by cross-linking agents.

A comparison of the incidence of micronuclei in blood and bone marrow in 3 strains of mouse dosed with cyclophosphamide or hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA).

The response of 3 strains of mouse (C57Bl/6J, C3H/C57 hybrid and BALBC/CBA) to cyclophosphamide (75 mg/kg) and hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) (1.28 ml/kg) were compared in the micronucleus test. Each compound was administered by intraperitoneal injection on two consecutive days and samples of bone marrow and blood taken for examination at 48 and 72 h after the first injection. Both test chemicals produced a statistically significant increase (P 0.001) in the incidence of micronuclei in bone marrow cells in all strains at both sampling times but the response with HMPA in C57Bl/6J mice appears to occur earlier than in the other two strains. Significant increases in micronuclei were seen in circulating erythrocytes only at 48 h in C57Bl/6J mice with both test chemicals and in C3H/C57 mice only with cyclophosphamide.

Chronic colonization of rat airways with Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Colonization of the airways of rats by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was established by treating the animals with hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) and inoculating with P. aeruginosa. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given tap water (controls) or HMPA in the drinking water at 2 or 4 mg/ml. The ciliated cells of the airway epithelium were denuded, and microulcerative lesions in the epithelium were induced in the HMPA-treated rats. After 2 weeks of treatment, the rats were inoculated by transoral intratracheal instillation with 5 X 10(7) CFU of P. aeruginosa obtained from a cystic fibrosis patient. Two weeks after inoculation, P. aeruginosa was cultured from the airways, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy showed bacilli adhering to or invading the injured airway epithelium. P. aeruginosa was present in tracheal and intrapulmonary tissue homogenates of 9% of the P. aeruginosa-inoculated control rats (n = 22) as compared with 61% of the 2-mg/ml (n = 18) and 65% of the 4-mg/ml (n = 20) HMPA-treated rats (P less than 0.05). No dose-response relationship was found between 2 and 4 mg of HMPA per ml and colonization. Contamination of 47% of all of the rats with Mycoplasma pulmonis, as indicated by a positive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for immunoglobulin G, had no discernible significant effect on colonization by P. aeruginosa. These results indicate that colonization of the rat airway by P. aeruginosa can be achieved experimentally by treating the animals with HMPA. This research supports the hypothesis that colonization by P. aeruginosa may occur in airways where the ciliated epithelium has been injured and epithelial lesions exist.

Cytochemical changes induced by apholate, tepa and hempa during vitellogenesis in Locusta migratoria.

Proteins (--SS, --SH, and NH2 groups; tyrosine, tryptophan and arginine), DNA, phospholipids and triglycerides showed a progressive decline in the oocytes of Locusta migratoria with increase in doses of apholate, tepa and hempa. Carbohydrates showed a decline only after higher doses of apholate and tepa whereas they were not affected at all with hempa. The pyroninophilia due to RNA in the oocytes decreased in the ooplasm of oocytes slightly, but increased in the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm of follicular epithelial cells with all the chemosterilants. The follicular epithelial cells degenerated in the mature oocytes, and yolk formation was inhibited.

Histopathology and histochemistry of insects treated with chemosterilants. VII. On the corpora cardiaca of Periplaneta americana (L) treated with hempa.

The neurosecretory granules are reduced and intrinsic cells are damaged in the corpora cardiaca of the last instar nymphs of P. americana treated with hempa.

Cytogenetic and other effects of the chemosterilants tepa, metepa, apholate an hempa in insects (a review).

A review of the literature revealed that the chemosterilants tepa (tris(1-aziridinyl)phosphine oxide), metepa (tris(2-methyl-1-aziridinyl) phosphineoxide), apholate (2,2,4,4,6,6-hexakis(1-aziridinyl)-2,2,4,4,6,6-hexahydro-1,3,5,2,4,6-triazatriphosphorine), and hempa (hexamethylmelamine) affected both reproductive and somatic tissues in over 65 species of insects. The effects were cytological, physiological, and genetic and varied from slight to severe. In some cases the deleterious effects may have been species-specific, but in general, they appeared to be dose-dependent. More than 150 publications are cited.