Escherichia coli morphological changes and lipid A removal induced by reduced pressure nitrogen afterglow exposure.

Lipid A is a major hydrophobic component of lipopolysaccharides (endotoxin) present in the membrane of most Gram-negative bacteria, and the major responsible for the bioactivity and toxicity of the endotoxin. Previous studies have demonstrated that the late afterglow region of flowing post-discharges at reduced pressure (1-20 Torr) can be used for the sterilization of surfaces and of the reusable medical instrumentation. In the present paper, we show that the antibacterial activity of a pure nitrogen afterglow can essentially be attributed to the large concentrations of nitrogen atoms present in the treatment area and not to the UV radiation of the afterglow. In parallel, the time variation of the inactivation efficiency quantified by the log reduction of the initial Escherichia coli (E. coli) population is correlated with morphologic changes observed on the bacteria by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for increasing afterglow exposure times. The effect of the afterglow exposure is also studied on pure lipid A and on lipid A extracted from exposed E. coli bacteria. We report that more than 60% of lipid A (pure or bacteria-extracted) are lost with the used operating conditions (nitrogen flow QN2 = 1 standard liter per minute (slpm), pressure p = 5 Torr, microwave injected power PMW = 200 W, exposure time: 40 minutes). The afterglow exposure also results in a reduction of the lipid A proinflammatory activity, assessed by the net decrease of the redox-sensitive NFκB transcription factor nuclear translocation in murine aortic endothelial cells stimulated with control vs afterglow-treated (pure and extracted) lipid A. Altogether these results point out the ability of reduced pressure nitrogen afterglows to neutralize the cytotoxic components in Gram-negative bacteria.

In vitro impact of five pesticides alone or in combination on human intestinal cell line Caco-2.

In Burkina Faso, as in most Sahelian countries, the failure to follow good agricultural practices coupled with poor soil and climate conditions in the locust control context lead to high environmental contaminations with pesticide residues. Thus, consumers being orally exposed to a combination of multiple pesticide residues through food and water intake, the digestive tract is a tissue susceptible to be directly exposed to these food contaminants. The aim of our work was to compare in vitro the impact of five desert locust control pesticides (Deltamethrin DTM, Fenitrothion FNT, Fipronil FPN, Lambda-cyalothrine LCT, and Teflubenzuron TBZ) alone and in combination on the human intestinal Caco-2 cells viability and function. Cells were exposed to 0.1-100 µM pesticides for 10 days alone or in mixture (MIX). Our results showed a cytotoxic effect of DTM, FNT, FPN, LCT, and TBZ alone or in combination in human intestinal Caco-2 cells. The most efficient were shown to be FPN and FNT impacting the cell layer integrity and/or barrier function, ALP activity, antioxidant enzyme activity, lipid peroxidation, Akt activation, and apoptosis. The presence of antioxidant reduced lipid peroxidation level and attenuated the pesticides-induced cell toxicity, suggesting that key mechanism of pesticides cytotoxicity may be linked to their pro-oxidative potential. A comparative analysis with the predicted cytotoxic effect of pesticides mixture using mathematical modeling shown that the combination of these pesticides led to synergistic effects rather than to a simple independent or dose addition effect.

Loss of RhoB expression promotes migration and invasion of human bronchial cells via activation of AKT1.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, mainly due to its highly metastatic properties. Previously, we reported an inverse correlation between RhoB expression and the progression of the lung cancer, occurring between preinvasive and invasive tumors. Herein, we mimicked the loss of RhoB observed throughout lung oncogenesis with RNA interference in nontumoral bronchial cell lines and analyzed the consequences on both cell transformation and invasion. Down-regulation of RhoB did not modify the cell growth properties but did promote migration and invasiveness. Furthermore, RhoB depletion was accompanied by modifications of actin and cell adhesion. The specific activation of the Akt1 isoform and Rac1 was found to be critical for this RhoB-mediated regulation of migration. Lastly, we showed that RhoB down-regulation consecutive to K-RasV12 cell transformation is critical for cell motility but not for cell proliferation. We propose that RhoB loss during lung cancer progression relates to the acquisition of invasiveness mediated by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT and Rac1 pathways rather than to tumor initiation.

In vitro aromatic bioactivation of the weak estrogen E(2)alpha and genesis of DNA adducts.

Specific A-ring hydroxylated metabolites of 17beta-estrogens are known to be endogenous pro-carcinogens, more particularly the 4-hydroxylated forms of estrogens produced by cytochrome P4501B1. In this study, we investigated whether estradiol-17alpha, the main hepatic residue of estradiol-17beta in cattle treated for anabolic purposes with estradiol containing implants, could be significantly metabolized by human cells, and whether its aromatic metabolites could induce the formation of DNA adducts as estradiol-17beta and estrone do. First, using a human kidney adenocarcinoma cell line, which expresses specifically the cytochrome P4501B1, we showed that estradiol-17alpha is bioactivated into a mixture of 2- and 4-catechol estrogens leading to the corresponding methoxyestrogens unambiguously identified by LC-APCI-MS/MS. We then demonstrated that the 2- and 4-hydroxylated derivatives of estradiol-17alpha incubated under oxidative conditions with calf thymus DNA gave stable DNA adducts and abasic sites, respectively. From these results, we can consider that human cells expressing CYP1B1-dependent hydroxylation activities metabolize estradiol-17alpha at the same magnitude as estradiol-17beta and estrone, and that in oxidative conditions, the resulting aromatic metabolites can lead to the formation of both stable and unstable DNA adducts.