Transfer of viable putative preneoplastic hepatocytes to the livers of syngeneic host rats.

A new approach was developed by which freshly isolated, chemical carcinogen-altered hepatocytes with the positive marker gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GT) could be transferred from adult donor F344 rats to the livers of syngeneic, adult host rats. Selective proliferation of gamma-GT-positive hepatocytes was induced in host rat livers, such that large, macroscopic colonies of altered hepatocytes could be generated within 10 days of the cell transfer operation. Quantitation of the number of gamma-GT-positive hepatocyte colonies (foci) appearing per square centimeter of host liver section area on day 10 following cell transfer revealed that prior treatment of host rats with a low dose of 2-acetylaminofluorene was essential for the appearance of large numbers of foci. In addition, the appearance of foci on day 10 depended on the presence of intact, gamma-GT-positive hepatocytes in the infused (transferred) cell suspensions.

Ultrastructural and cytochemical study of the early stages of liver colonization by transplanted neoplastic hepatocytes.

Neoplastic liver cell colonies were induced in the livers of isogeneic F344 rats by intraportal injection of a hepatic cell suspension from diethylnitrosamine-treated donor rats. Examination of the livers 12 days after cell implantation revealed well-demarcated groups of liver cells. The colonies showed alterations of the normal hepatocyte phenotype, which were clearly demonstrated by histologic, cytochemical, and electron microscope techniques. The hepatocytes were markedly deficient in glucose-6-phosphatase and bile canalicular ATPase activities, and they contained numerous mitotic figures. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy allowed characterization of hepatocyte interfaces and the shape of sinusoids and the biliary network. The nodular colonies displayed disorganized, thickened trabeculae separated by dilated sinusoids. In these colonies the hepatocytes proliferated intensely and formed, inside the host parenchyma, revascularized, integrated nodular structures. However, these hepatocytes showed ultrastructural anomalies: large nuclei with prominent nucleoli, many free polysomes, and areas of proliferated smooth endoplasmic reticulum in connection with unfolded cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. All of these features agreed with the hypothesis previously proposed that the colonies may be precursors of the hepatocarcinomas that ultimately develop in animals given injections of treated liver cells. Direct confirmation, however, still is needed.

Carcinogen-induced drug resistance in rat hepatocytes.

The relative resistance of liver cells in primary monolayer cell culture to the cytocidal effects of methotrexate, Adriamycin, cycloheximide, or aflatoxin B1 was studied using cells derived from normal rats, rats subjected to two-thirds hepatectomy, or rat fed dietary carcinogen. Normal rat liver cells were highly sensitive to the toxic effects of methotrexate. Adriamycin, cycloheximide, and aflatoxin B1. In contrast, liver cells from carcinogen-treated rats were resistant to the toxic effects of these agents. Cells derived from rats at 24 hr post two-thirds hepatectomy were sensitive to Adriamycin but not to cycloheximide or aflatoxin B1.

Search for endogenous liver colony-forming units in F344 rats given a two-thirds hepatectomy during short-term feeding of 2-acetylaminofluorene.

To search for endogenous liver colony-forming units in livers of male F344 rats, three cell selection regimens were used. Rats were given a two-thirds hepatectomy (PH) on Day 7 of a 14-day dietary administration of the hepatocarcinogen 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF), given at a concentration of 0.02, 0.04, or 0.06% (AAF-PH regimens). Rats were sacrificed at intervals up to Day 21. Although extensive liver cell proliferation was induced by the AAF-PH regimens, a total of only four endogenous liver colony-forming units were detected in standard liver sections prepared from 46 AAF-PH-treated rats; the liver colony-forming units appeared in two rats sampled on Day 21. Liver cell hyperplasia was induced by the AAF-PH regimens and was reflected by an increase in the liver weight/body weight ratio, an increase in standard liver section area, and an increase in specific activity of [3H]DNA extracted from the livers of rats receiving [3H]thymidine during the AAF-PH regimen. The characteristic peak of DNA synthesis, observed at 24 hr post-PH in the livers of controls rats, was absent in AAF-PH-treated rats, but DNA-specific activity began to increase at three days post-PH, peaked at seven to ten days post-PH, and was greater with higher concentrations of AAF. The acinar distribution of liver cells proliferating during the AAF-PH regimen was evaluated in standard liver sections by microscopic determinations of cell densities and autoradiographic determinations of nuclear incorporation of [3H]thymidine as an estimate of the DNA synthesis index. At Day 14, the AAF-PH regimens induced approximately three-fold greater cell densities, compared with controls, and a DNA synthesis index in the range of 15 to 45% within 85 micrometer of the terminal portal venule in Zone 1 of Rappaport, with a gradual decrease to control levels at about 255 micrometer from the terminal portal venule. Morphologically, most of the proliferating cells in Zone 1 resembled bile duct epithelial cells with a few intervening cells resembling oval cells. The DNA synthesis index, observed in two other morphologically distinguishable cell types, increased with higher AAF concentrations. One cell type exhibited small, pleiomorphic nuclei, distributed evenly in Zones 2 and 3; the other exhibited larger, rounded nuclei located predominantly in Zone 3. AAF-PH regimens containing higher concentrations of AAF adversely affected survival. At Day 14, the percentages of survival of rats fed diets supplemented with 0.02, 0.04, or 0.06% AAF were, respectively, 100, 89, and 65%. Reductions in body weights, thymus weight/body weight ratios, and liver weight/body weight ratios paralleled decreased survival. By Day 21, all AAF-PH-treated rats fed diets supplemented with 0.02, 0.04, or 0.06% AAF consumed, respectively, 85, 62, or 56% of the amount of diet consumed by rats fed control diet only; the total amounts of AAF ingested were 19, 34, and 40 mg/rat, respectively. The pattern of daily intake of 0...

Effects of selenium on cell proliferation in rat liver and mammalian cells as indicated by cytokinetic and biochemical analysis.

Studies were conducted in vivo with regenerating liver and in vitro with mammalian cells to determine the effects of selenium on cell proliferation and the stages of the cell cycle affected by selenium. Six ppm selenium as Na2SeO3 fed to weanling male F344 rats for 6 wk significantly reduced the percentage of 3H-labeled hepatocyte nuclei by one-half compared to 0.1 ppm selenium when [methyl-3H]thymidine was injected at 23 h post-two-thirds hepatectomy. Sampling was done at 30 h post-hepatectomy. A trend towards decreased 3H per DNA per labeled cell was also observed, suggesting that selenium decreased the rate of DNA synthesis as well as delaying the entry of cells into S phase (i.e., increasing the duration of G0-G1). Studies in vitro with H-4 "minimal deviation" hepatomas and 3T3 mouse fibroblasts demonstrated that selenium decreased the growth of these cells in a dose-dependent manner, and this inhibition was reversible upon removal of selenium from the growth medium. Cytokinetic analysis using fluorescence flow cytometry and microscopic techniques indicated that selenium treatment increased the duration of G1, S, and G2 phases of the cell cycle, while having no effect on mitosis under the conditions of our experiments. Biochemical analyses of H-4 cells demonstrated that selenium treatment caused a significant dose-dependent increase in oxidized and reduced glutathione (GSSG and GSH) as well as in the GSSG:GSH ratio as was previously observed in liver in vivo. In addition, glutathione reductase activity as well as the oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate:reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate ratio was significantly increased with selenium treatment. These results indicate that selenium affects all "synthetic" stages of the cell cycle, and elevated GSSG or the GSSG:GSH ratio may explain the antiproliferative effects of selenium on cells.

Effects of dietary selenium concentration on the development of enzyme-altered liver foci and hepatocellular carcinoma induced by diethylnitrosamine or N-acetylaminofluorene in rats.

Three protocols were used to determine the effects of dietary selenium concentration on the development of gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT)-positive foci and hepatocellular carcinoma induced by either diethylnitrosamine (DEN) or N-acetylaminofluorene in rats. In the first experiment, foci were induced by a carcinogenic dose of DEN (100 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) at 20-22 h after two-thirds partial hepatectomy. One wk after DEN administration, during which time 0.1 ppm (representing a control level), 3.0, or 6.0 ppm selenium as Na2SeO3 was fed for 8 or 16 wk, at which time focal analysis was conducted using quantitative stereology. The results demonstrated that 3.0 and 6.0 ppm dietary selenium, initiated 1 wk following carcinogen administration, decreased focal growth rate without affecting the number of GGT foci compared to 0.1 ppm selenium. Decreased focal growth was temporary and reversible with 6.0 ppm selenium which may be related to chronic selenosis observed after 16 wk of 6.0 ppm selenium feeding. A second experiment involved a noncarcinogenic dose of DEN (25 mg/kg body weight, p.o.), then 0.1 or 6.0 ppm selenium feeding for 8 wk, followed by 0.05% phenobarbital (PB), a liver tumor promoter in a diet containing 0.1 ppm selenium. Analysis of GGT foci at 5 or 8 wk of PB feeding indicated that 6.0 ppm selenium caused a trend towards an increase in the number of foci/cm3 of liver and mean focal volume and a significant increase in GGT focal volume as a percentage of liver volume by 8 wk of PB feeding. Thus, high dietary selenium concentrations prior to PB enhance the tumor-promoting ability of PB. In a third experiment, using male Fischer 344 rats (150 g), 0.1 or 6.0 ppm selenium was fed concurrently with 0.02% AAF which was fed in a cyclic regimen. After 4 cycles, where 1 cycle equalled 4 wk of AAF, followed by 1 wk of control diet (0.1 ppm selenium), 6.0 ppm selenium significantly decreased the mean focal volume and focal volume as a percentage of liver volume, while not affecting the number of foci/cm3 of liver, again indicating a selenium effect on focal growth while not affecting the number of "preneoplastic" lesions in the liver. Six ppm selenium feeding after AAF treatment had no effect on the percentage of incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (100%) but did cause a significant decrease in the percentage of liver volume occupied by macroscopic subcapsular liver lesions compared to 0.1 ppm selenium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Formation and removal of (guan-8-yl)-DNA-2-acetylaminofluorene adducts in liver and kidney of male rats given dietary 2-acetylaminofluorene.

Radioimmunoassay has been used to measure acetylated and deacetylated deoxyguanosine C-8 DNA adducts of 2-acetylaminofluorene in liver and kidney DNA of male Wistar-Furth rats fed a dietary regimen of 0.02 or 0.04% 2-acetylaminofluorene. When adduct formation was monitored during continuous feeding up to 60 days, substantial levels of binding (80 fmol/microgram DNA) were observed in liver by 1 day, and maximum steady-state values averaging 230 fmol/microgram DNA were reached by 30 days. Initially, during the continuous feeding, about 80% of the total C-8 adducts were deacetylated [N-deoxyguanosin(8-yl)aminofluorene], and this proportion increased to about 97% by 15 and 30 days of administration of 0.04 and 0.02% 2-acetylaminofluorene diets, respectively. Levels of C-8 adducts bound to kidney DNA in the same animals averaged 10 to 15% of the liver values with greater than or equal to 80% of these adducts in the deacetylated form. In separate experiments, rats were exposed to 2-acetylaminofluorene for 3, 7, 28, and 112 days; the carcinogen-containing diet was discontinued; and C-8 adducts were monitored during 1, 7, and 28 days of feeding control diet. At both carcinogen doses, after dietary administration for 3 or 7 days, there was a rapid decrease in liver C-8 adducts so that, after 28 days on control diet, 65 to 90% of the original adducts were no longer present in the DNA. In contrast, in animals fed 0.02% 2-acetylaminofluorene for 28 days, there were high levels (70 to 100% of the original C-8 adduct) remaining on the DNA at the end of 28 days on control diet. This apparent loss in capacity for removal of C-8 adducts is discussed in relation to biological and biochemical changes induced in the rat liver during 2-acetylaminofluorene hepatocarcinogens.

Immunological approaches to the purification of putative premalignant hepatocytes from genotypic mosaic rat livers.

Surface-localized rat RT1 alloantigens on isolated hepatocytes have been used to achieve partial purification of putative premalignant liver cells from rats undergoing chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis. Genotypic mosaic rat livers were constructed by transplantation of carcinogen-altered F-344 (RT1Iv1) or WF (RT1u) donor liver cells into livers of WF X F-344 F1 host rats, whose liver cells bear alloantigens of both parental strains: WF and F-344, RT1u and RT1Iv1, respectively (J. M. Hunt et al., Cancer Res., 42: 227-236, 1982). Donor and host origin hepatocytes were thus distinguishable immunologically with anti-RT1u or anti-RT1Iv1 alloantisera. Donor rats were treated with diethylnitrosamine (200 mg/kg i.p.) followed by an experimental regimen of dietary 2-acetylaminofluorene and partial hepatectomy. Standard host rats received only the 2-acetylaminofluorene-partial hepatectomy regimen. At 10 to 21 days after transplantation, mosaic host rat livers typically contained 7% donor origin hepatocytes, 96% of which were positive histochemically for gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase. Host origin hepatocytes could be effectively purified by affinity chromatography ("panning") of isolated hepatocytes. To obtain donor origin hepatocytes, the putative progenitor cells of liver carcinomas in these mosaic livers, two approaches were used. Alloantibody-mediated rosette formation followed by sedimentation through Ficoll/metrizamide resulted in a 4- to 10-fold enrichment for donor origin hepatocytes isolated from mosaic livers. Similarly, a 5- to 11-fold enrichment for donor origin hepatocytes was achieved by specific alloantibody-mediated cytolysis of host hepatocytes with rabbit complement followed by purification of viable donor origin cells by sedimentation on metrizamide cushions. Hepatocellular carcinomas which developed in the genotypic mosaic host rat livers were excised 17 to 21 months after donor liver cell transplantation and passaged s.c. or i.m. in histocompatible rats. The transplantable tumors were typed for strain of origin by indirect immunofluorescence using rat alloantisera, and five of six tumors displayed antigenicity reflecting donor strain origin. We conclude, therefore, that the transplanted donor liver cell populations contain cellular precursors of hepatocellular carcinomas which may be isolable using combinations of the purification strategies described.

Application of quantitative stereology to the evaluation of enzyme-altered foci in rat liver.

The mathematical science of quantitative stereology has established relationships for the quantitation of elements in three-dimensional space from observations on two-dimensional planes. This report describes the utilization and importance of such mathematical relationships for the quantitative analysis of focal hepatic lesions in terms relative to the volume of the liver. Three examples are utilized to demonstrate the utility of such calculations in the three-dimensional quantitation of hepatic focal lesions. The first is that of a computer-simulated experiment based on defined hypothetical situations. The simulations demonstrate the applicability of the computations described in this report to the evaluation of two-dimensional data from typical animal experiments. The other two examples are taken from actual experiments and involve the transplantation of hepatic cell populations into the liver suitably prepared hosts and the quantitation of altered foci produced by initiation with diethylnitrosamine-partial hepatectomy followed by promotion with phenobarbital. The quantitation of altered foci by means of a two-dimensional analysis (simple enumeration of focal intersections/area of tissue section) is proportional to the quantitation of foci per volume of liver provided that the mean diameter of the foci for each treatment is sufficiently uniform, as exemplified in the text by the transplantation experiment. When such mean diameters are unequal as in the diethylnitrosamine-phenobarbital experiment described herein, quantitation from three-dimensional analysis gives significantly different results as compared with enumeration of focal intersections on two-dimensional areas. These studies clearly demonstrate that the frequency and size of foci intersections viewed on two-dimensional tissue sections do not necessarily reflect the number of size of foci in the three-dimensional tissue. Only by quantitating the number and size of the foci in relation to the three-dimensional volume of the tissue can one determine the validity of the proportionality of data from two-dimensional measurements to the total number of foci per volume of tissue. Such a conclusion has important implications for quantitative studies on hepatocarcinogenesis as well as for the enumeration of premalignant lesions which occur during the natural history of carcinogenesis in any solid tissue.

Determination of 2-acetylaminofluorene adducts by immunoassay.

Antisera elicited in rabbits were used in radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine femtomole quantities of deoxyguanosin-(8-yl)-acetylaminofluorene (dg-8-AAF) and deoxyguanosin-(8-yl)-aminofluorene (dg-8-AF). These adducts have been monitored in liver and kidney DNA of male Wistar-Furth rats fed 0.02% or 0.04% 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF) either continuously or for a limited time followed by an interval on control diet. After 24 hr of 0.02% 2-AAF feeding, substantial levels of binding (80 fmole/mug DNA) were observed in liver DNA and increased with time, reaching a plateau of approximately 230 fmole/mug DNA at 30 days and thereafter. During the first week of continuous feeding about 80% of the total C-8 adducts in the liver DNA were deacetylated (dG-8-AF). By 25-60 days, dG-8-AF represented 97-100% of all C-8 adducts as measured by RIA and confirmed by HPLC. Values for C-8 adduct formation in kidney DNA were severalfold lower than in liver and dG-8-AF represented >90% of C-8 adducts at all times studied. In removal or repair experiments, rats were fed 2-AAF for 3, 7 or 28 days, the 2-AAF diet was discontinued and the liver adducts assayed after intervals on control diet. When dietary 2-AAF administration was for 3 or 7 days, removal of adducts was efficient and almost complete by 28 days on control diet, with preferential retention of dG-8-AF. However, when dietary 2-AAF administration was for 28 days, adduct levels were higher, the repair capacity was saturated and the removal of C-8 adducts was not complete after control diet for a 28-day interval. In a preliminary experiment when [(3)H]-2-AAF was fed for 3 days, after 25 days of 0.02% 2-AAF, the rates of newly formed adduct formation and removal were similar to those observed for the initial 3 days of 2-AAF feeding. These results demonstrate the predominance and persistence of dG-8-AF in liver and kidney DNA of 2-AAF-fed rats and suggest that the repair capacity of the whole rat liver was not diminished after 1 month of 2-AAF feeding.

Toxicity of aflatoxin B1 in rat and mouse hepatocytes in vivo and in vitro.

The reported LD50 for the adult, male Fisher rat is 1.2 mg aflatoxin B1/kg body weight (i.p.); we have found that male C57BL/6 mice survive single doses of aflatoxin B1 as high as 60 mg/kg (i.p.). We have demonstrated a 1000-fold greater LC50 of aflatoxin B1 for primary mouse liver cell cultures from C57BL/6 male mice (3 X 10(-5) M) than for primary liver cells from F344 male rats (3 X 10(-8) M). In 4 h of exposure to a non-toxic dose (1 X 10(-9) M) of [3H]aflatoxin B1, cultured rat liver cells accumulated up to 5-fold higher concentrations of 3H label than did mouse liver cells. The difference in cell-associated counts was due largely to higher levels of aflatoxin B1 metabolites bound to macromolecules in the rat cells.

The response of Xeroderma pigmentosum cells and controls to the activated mycotoxins, aflatoxins and sterigmatocystin.

The activation of the mycotoxins aflatoxin B1, G1, B2, G2, aflatoxicol and sterigmatocystin by 9S fraction, microsomal preparation (105,000 times g) and supernatant (105,000 times g) of livers of several species was examined. DNA repair synthesis, chromosome aberrations and clone forming capacity were used as endpoints. Cultured fibroblasts of normal persons and DNA repair deficient Xeroderma pigmentosum patients were employed as test subjects. The activation mixtures significantly increase the chromosome breaking function, lethality and DNA damaging effect (measured as DNA repair synthesis) of aflatoxin B1, G1, aflatoxicol ans sterigmatocystin. The DNA repair-deficient XP cells respond to the activated mycotoxins with a low level of unscheduled 3HTdR incorporation as compared to that of control cells, but show a highly elevated sensitivity to the chromosome-damaging and lethal effect of aflatoxin B1 and sterigmatocystin.

Conditions affecting primary cell cultures of functional adult rat hepatocytes. II. Dexamethasone enhanced longevity and maintenance of morphology.

Primary monolayer cell cultures of adult rat hepatocytes underwent change in morphology and substantial cell loss between 1 and 3 days postinoculation. Dexamethasone-supplementation (1 micronM) of the culture medium maintained the polygonal epithelial morphology of the hepatocytes and increased longevity such that over 80% of the cells survived for 3 days and at least 30% for 8 or 9 days. This enhancement of survival was obtained up to 48 hr postinoculation, but the earlier the time of dexamethason supplementation the greater the effect. Removal of dexamethasone resulted in a decrease in longevity. The positive effect of dexamethasone on longevity was observed following dexamethasone replacement of insulin in supplemented cultures, but the combination of insulin and dexamethasone resulted in poorer survival than with dexamethasone alone. The results are interpreted to indicate that dexamethasone provided a requirement of the in vitro environment for survival and suggest that elaboration of a complex medium is required to maintain hepatocytes in culture.

Conditions affecting primary cell cultures of functional adult rat hepatocytes. 1. The effect of insulin.

The conditions for obtaining representative, primary adult rat hepatocyte cultures were explored. The methods applied included enzymatic liver perfusion which was nondestructive to hepatocytes, the prevention of aggregation of dissociated cells and the selective attachment of viable cells. These procedures yielded a recovery of 50% of the liver cells which gave rise to cultures representing 14% of the total liver cells. The cultures were composed of homogeneous epithelial-like cells cytologically similar to hepatocytes and possessed a number of liver-specific enzymes. There was virtually no cell division initially and most cells died between 24 and 48 hr. Insulin enhanced the attachment of the liver cells, altered their morphology, but did not prolong cell survival.

Resistance to the cytocidal effects of adriamycin is an early phenotypic change induced during hepatocarcinogenesis.

Resistance to the cytocidal action of Adriamycin (ADR) was induced in rat hepatocytes by incorporation of the carcinogen 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) into the rat diet. Using a quantitative assay in primary monolayer culture, it was demonstrated that resistance to ADR is an early phenotypic change that is induced during chemical carcinogenesis in the rat, and appears to be stable.

Organ-specific DNA damage induced in mice by the organotropic carcinogens 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide and dimethylnitrosamine.

The extent of DNA fragmentation induced in lung, kidney, and liver of mice injected with the chemical carcinogens 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO), dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) and the noncarcinogenic 4-aminoquinoline 1-oxide (4AQO) was estimated by the alkaline sucrose gradient technique. A floating of minced lung tissue pieces in the alkaline lysing solution on top of the gradients afforded a gentle method of lung DNA extraction. This technique minimized mechanical shearing of lung DNA and permitted comparisons to be made with liver and kidney DNA sedimentation patterns. The extent of DNA damage induced by 4NQO followed the order: lung, kidney, liver, while that induced by DMN followed the order: liver, kidney, lung. The sites of greatest DNA damage appeared to correlate with sites of high levels of DNA repair synthesis and the sites of tumor induction. No DNA damage was induced by the noncarcinogenic 4-aminoquinoline 1-oxide (4AQO).