Acrylamide and glycidamide: genotoxic effects in V79-cells and human blood.

Acrylamide (AA) can be formed in certain foods by heating, predominantly from the precursor asparagine. It is a carcinogen in animal experiments, but the relevance of dietary exposure for humans is still under debate. There is substantial evidence that glycidamide (GA), metabolically formed from AA by Cyp 2E1-mediated epoxidation, acts as ultimate mutagenic agent. We compared the mutagenic potential of AA and GA in V79-cells, using the hprt mutagenicity-test with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitroso-guanidine (MNNG) as positive control. Whereas MNNG showed marked mutagenic effectivity already at 0.5 microM, AA was inactive up to a concentration of 10 mM. In contrast, GA showed a concentration dependent induction of mutations at concentrations of 800 microM and higher. Human blood was used as model system to investigate genotoxic potential in lymphocytes by single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) and by measuring the induction of micronuclei (MN) with bleomycin (BL) as positive control. AA did not induce significant genotoxicity or mutagenicity up to 6000 microM. With GA, concentration dependent DNA damage was observed in the dose range of 300-3000 microM after 4 h incubation. Significant MN-induction was not observed with AA (up to 5000 microM) and GA (up to 1000 microM), whereas BL (4 microM) induced significantly enhanced MN frequencies. Thus, in our systems GA appears to exert a rather moderate genotoxic activity.

Acrylamide and glycidamide: approach towards risk assessment based on biomarker guided dosimetry of genotoxic/mutagenic effects in human blood.

Acrylamide (AA) is a carcinogen as demonstrated in animal experiments, but the relevance for the human situation is still unclear. AA and its metabolite glycidamide (GA) react with nucleophilic regions in biomolecules. However, whereas AA and GA react with proteins, DNA adducts are exclusively formed by GA under conditions simulating in vivo situations. For risk assessment it is of particular interest to elucidate whether AA or GA within the plasma concentration range resulting from food intake are "quenched" by preferential reaction with non-critical blood constituents or whether DNA in lymphocytes is damaged concomitantly under such conditions. To address this question dose- and time-dependent induction of hemoglobin (Hb) adducts as well as genotoxic and mutagenic effects by AA or GA were studied in human blood as a model system.

Micronuclei induced by aneugens and clastogens in mononucleate and binucleate cells using the cytokinesis block assay.

The human in vitro micronucleus (MN) test has become a fast and reliable assay for mutagenicity testing. Currently, this assay is mostly performed with cytochalasin B, which prevents cytokinesis, resulting in polynucleated cells. The number of nuclei per cell indicates the number of nuclear divisions that have occurred since the addition of cytochalasin B. It is recommended that MN are only counted in binucleated lymphocytes, because these cells have finished one nuclear division. Therefore, almost no attention has been paid to MN in mononucleated cells. However, recent studies have indicated that aneugens, but not clastogens, also induce MN in mononucleates. In order to evaluate mononucleates to distinguish between aneugenic and clastogenic effects, we tested some typical aneugens and clastogens in whole blood lymphocyte cultures of four donors with the cytokinesis block micronucleus (CBMN) assay. Results showed that the aneugens diethylstilbestrol (80 microM), griseofulvin (25 microg/ml) and vincristine sulphate (15 microg/ml) increased MN frequencies in mononucleated and binucleated cells, whilst the clastogens mitomycin C (500 ng/ml), bleomycin (6 microg/ml) and doxorubicin (20 microg/ml) increased MN frequency only in binucleates. We also tested the Y heterochromatin decondensing drug berenil (300 microg/ml). Berenil induced an extremely high number of MN in mononucleated as well as in binucleated cells, indicating an aneugenic action. This was confirmed by centromere labelling. The results suggest that MN in mononucleates may be an interesting additional parameter in the CBMN assay. Future studies should clarify whether the micronucleated mononucleate cells have escaped the cytokinesis block and become polyploid.

Mutagenic and cytotoxic effects of immunosuppressive drugs on human lymphocyte cultures.

OBJECTIVES: Immunosuppressive drugs such as cyclosporine A, mycophenolate mofetil, tacrolimus, and the immunosuppressive agent sirolimus are used effectively to prevent immunologic rejection after solid-organ transplantation. The most serious complication among patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy is the risk of developing cancer. The question is whether the drugs used have mutagenic properties and so contribute to increased cancer risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated the mutagenic and cytotoxic effects of the above-mentioned drugs in human lymphocyte cultures with special consideration given to clinically relevant blood-drug concentrations. Mutagenicity was tested by analyzing micronuclei using the well-established cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay with cytochalasin B. To evaluate cytotoxicity, the cytokinesis-block proliferation index was calculated. Concentrations used ranged from 0.1-2 mug/mL for cyclosporine A, 1-20 microg/mL for mycophenolate mofetil, 5-40 ng/mL for tacrolimus, and 2.5-50 ng/mL for sirolimus. We also estimated mutagenicity and cytotoxicity in the blood of kidney transplanted patients using the above-mentioned techniques. RESULTS: Cultures supplemented with mycophenolate mofetil or tacrolimus showed higher amounts of micronuclei when compared with solvent controls in all concentrations tested. Addition of cyclosporine A to cultures also led to a rise in the number of micronuclei at concentrations of 0.2 mug/mL and 0.4 mug/mL. In contrast with the other immunosuppressive drugs, sirolimus induced only weak mutagenic activity in the micronuclei test at its highest concentration (50 ng/mL). Cytotoxic effects were seen only in mycophenolatemofetil-supplemented cultures at all concentrations tested (P<0.01). In comparison with healthy persons, those with kidney transplants under immunosuppression displayed a broad reduction in the cytokinesis-block proliferation index (P<0.001) and a significant increase in the frequency of micronuclei (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus display more mutagenic effects in vitro than do cyclosporine A or sirolimus, and that transplanted patients exhibit higher amounts of micronuclei and a noteworthy reduction in the cytokinesis-block proliferation index compared with healthy persons.

Protoporphyrin IX-accumulation in human tumor cells following topical ALA- and h-ALA-application in vivo.

The fluorescence monitoring represents an innovative approach to detect tumor tissue by photosensitizer-mediated fluorescence. Therefore, information on cellular uptake, tumor selectivity and accumulation properties of photosensitizers are of essential interest. In this study we compared the accumulation properties of two photosensitizer precursors, the 5-aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) and a hexylester of ALA (h-ALA), in vivo using the hen's egg model and the human larynx carcinoma cell line HEp-2. The formation of the actual photosensitizer, protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), was determined both qualitatively and quantitatively. The intensity of the excited PpIX-fluorescence was observed as an indicator for the presence of PpIX after topical ALA- and h-ALA-applications. PpIX-fluorescence was measured using spatially resolved fluorescence spectroscopy.