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Test Chemicals (test + chemical)
Selected AbstractsA medium-term rat liver bioassay for rapid in vivo detection of carcinogenic potential of chemicalsCANCER SCIENCE, Issue 1 2003Nobuyuki Lto A reliable medium-term bioassay system for rapid detection of carcinogenic potential of chemicals in the human environment has been developed. The 8-week-protocol consists of 2 stages; male F344 rats are given a single intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine (200 mg/kg) for initiation of liver carcinogenesis, followed by a 6-week test chemical treatment starting 2 weeks thereafter. Test chemicals are usually given in the diet or the drinking water and in the 2nd week of test chemical treatment, all rats are subjected to two-thirds partial hepatectomy in order to induce regenerative cell replication. The end-point marker is the glutathione S-transferase placental form (GST-P)-positive hepatic focus, the numbers and sizes of which are analyzed using an image-analyzer and expressed as values per unit liver section (1 cm2). When the yield of GST-P-positive foci is significantly enhanced (P<0.05) over the control value, a chemical is judged to possess carcinogenic or promotion potential for the liver. Among 313 chemicals already tested in this system in our laboratory, 30/31 (97%) mutagenic hepatocarcinogens and 29/33 (88%) non-mutagenic hepatocarcinogens gave positive results. Ten out of 43 (23%) agents known to be carcinogenic in organs other than the liver were also positive. It is particularly important that only one of 48 non-carcinogens gave a very weak positive result, so that the system has a very low false-positivity rate. It is now well documented that the assay system is highly effective for detecting hepatocarcinogens, bridging the gap between traditional long-term carcinogenicity tests and short-term screening assays. At the Fourth International Conference on Harmonization, our medium-term liver bioassay based on an initiation and promotion protocol was recommended in the guidelines as an acceptable alternative to the long-term rodent carcinogenicity test. (Cancer Sci 2003; 94: 3,8) [source] Use of a high-throughput umu -microplate test system for rapid detection of genotoxicity produced by mutagenic carcinogens and airborne particulate matterENVIRONMENTAL AND MOLECULAR MUTAGENESIS, Issue 1 2004Yoshimitsu Oda Abstract In the present study, we developed a rapid umu -microplate test system that uses the nitroreductase- and O -acetyltransferase-overproducing Salmonella typhimurium strain NM3009 and the O -acetyltransferase-overproducing S. typhimurium strain NM2009 to detect genotoxic activity in small volume samples. The assay was used to test the genotoxicity of several standard mutagens and environmental samples. Exponentially growing cultures of NM3009, NM2009, and the parental strain TA1535/pSK1002 were incubated in 96-well microplates with test chemicals both in the presence and in the absence of rat liver S9. The relative ,-galactosidase activities were then determined colorimetrically using either chlorophenol red-,- D -galactopyranoside (CPRG) or O -nitrophenyl-,- D -galactopyranoside (ONPG) as a measure of umuC gene induction activity. The sensitivities of NM3009 without S9 mix and NM2009 with S9 mix to nitroarenes and aromatic amines were up to 24- to 75-fold higher than those of the parent strain. Induction of umuC gene expression was detected more readily with CPRG than ONPG. The umu -microplate assay also detected genotoxicity in organic extracts of particulate matter from air samples collected in Osaka City, Japan. The pattern of the responses suggested that the genotoxic activity of the particulate extract was due primarily to nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Our results indicate that the umu -microplate assay may be a useful way of carrying out rapid screens for genotoxicity in small-volume environmental samples. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 43:10,19, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Development of a solvent-free, solid-phase in vitro bioassay using vertebrate cellsENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 5 2006Stephanie K. Bopp Abstract Miniaturized bioassays offer many advantages in exploring the toxic potential of chemicals, including small sample volumes and compatibility with high-throughput screening. One problem common to miniaturized systems, however, is the loss of test chemicals because of sorption. The idea of the current study was to use the sorption phenomenon in a positive way. It was found that contaminants sorbed to the growth surface in wells of tissue-culture plates or to the surface of selected sorbent bead materials are available to vertebrate cells growing in direct contact with the contaminant-coated surface. The use of beads provided more flexibility with regard to surface area, materials, and assay format. Biosilon, a bead cell-culture carrier made of polystyrene, was found to be most suitable. It supported cell adherence and allowed the detection of reproducible dose-response curves of an increase in cytochrome CYP1A enzyme activity by sorbed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) liver cell line, RTL-W1. The resulting bead assay provides a miniaturized, solvent-free exposure system. Potential future applications include the coupling to environmental sampling, in which the bead material is used as solid receiving phase before serving as a surface for vertebrate cells to attach and respond. [source] Effects of the wood extractive betulinol and 17, -oestradiol on reproduction in zebrafish, Danio rerio (Hamilton) , complications due to a bacterial infectionJOURNAL OF FISH DISEASES, Issue 5 2004I Christianson-Heiska Abstract Zebrafish were exposed to the wood extractive betulinol (5 ,g L,1) and to 17, -oestradiol (E2, 0.27 ,g L,1) for 8 weeks in an attempt to study the possible endocrine-disrupting activity of betulinol. Females exposed to betulinol showed increased spawning intensity, while males exposed to betulinol and E2 had increased incidences of structural alterations in the testes. However, histological examination of the fish revealed that they were infected by acid-fast bacteria suspected to be Mycobacterium sp. despite a careful examination of their health state prior to the onset of the experiment. Fish exposed to betulinol and E2 showed more serious consequences of the bacterial infection than control fish indicating that the test chemicals had weakened the immune defence of the fish. When the exposure was repeated with healthy fish, an increase in the proportion of spermatogonia was seen in the testes of betulinol-treated males. A similar alteration, although not statistically significant, was also seen in the first experiment. However, no increase in the incidences of structural alterations in the testes was seen in betulinol- and E2-treated fish in the second experiment. Our study indicates that betulinol might have an endocrine-disrupting effect in zebrafish, but the increase in incidences of structural alterations in the testes might have been caused by a synergistic action between the test compounds and the bacterial infection. Our study stresses the importance of carefully checking the health of experimental fish, not only prior to the onset of an experiment but also upon termination of the experiment, in order to avoid misinterpretation of the results. [source] | ||||||||||