Motoi Ishidate

An application of acridine orange fluorescent staining to the micronucleus test

Acridine Orange fluorescent staining was applied to the micronucleus test in mice and rats. Micronuclei emitted bright green fluorescence and were easily distinguished from micronucleus-like inclusions or contaminants. In rat bone-marrow cells, micronuclei with green fluorescence could be easily distinguished from granules accidentally dispersed from broken mast cells, which showed bright red fluorescence. Therefore, it is recommended that the Acridine Orange staining method be used to provide more reliable data in the micronucleus test.

Report from the In Vitro Micronucleus Assay Working Group.

At the Washington International Workshop on Genotoxicity Test Procedures (March 25–26, 1999), the current methodologies and data for the in vitro micronucleus test were reviewed. From this, guidelines for the conduct of specific aspects of the protocol were developed. Because there are a number of important in vitro micronucleus validation studies in progress, it was not possible to design a definitive, internationally harmonized protocol at this time. Agreement was achieved on the following topics: Cells. The choice of cells is flexible, yet the choice of cell type should be justified and take into consideration doubling time, spontaneous frequency of micronuclei, and genetic background. Slide preparation. A fixation method that preserves the cytoplasm and cytoplasmic boundaries, and minimizes clumping should be used. Use of fluorescent DNA‐specific dyes is encouraged for better detection of small micronuclei. Analysis. Micronuclei should have a diameter less than one‐third of the main nucleus, and should be clearly distinguishable from the main nucleus. In the cytokinesis‐block method, binucleated cells selected for analysis should have two clearly distinguishable main nuclei. Cells where the main nucleus(ei) is undergoing apoptosis should not be scored for micronuclei because the assumed micronuclei may have been the result of nuclear fragmentation during the apoptotic process. Toxicity. Cytotoxicity can be measured by various methods including cell growth, cell counts, nucleation (i.e., percent binucleated), division/proliferation index, confluence. A majority of the group recommended that the highest concentration should induce at least 50% cytotoxicity (by whatever measure is selected). Cytochalasin B. There is much debate regarding the use of cytochalasin B. For human lymphocytes, the use of cytochalasin B (6 μg/ml [lymphocytes cultured from whole blood cells] and 3–6 μg/ml [isolated lymphocyte cultures]) is recommended. For cell lines, because there were no definitive data showing a clear advantage or disadvantage of the use of cytochalasin B for a variety of chemicals, the majority opinion of the group was that at this time, the use of cytochalasin B for cell lines is considered optional. Further studies (many chemicals of a variety of potencies, tested both with and without cytochalasin B) are clearly needed to resolve this issue. Number of doses. At least three concentrations should be scored for micronuclei. Treatment/harvest times. At this time, there are not enough data to define the most appropriate treatment/harvest times. Following the principles of the in vitro metaphase assay (with or without metabolic activation), it was agreed that there was a need for a short treatment followed by a recovery time in the absence of test chemical, there was a need for a long treatment (maybe with and without recovery time), and ideally, treatment should cover cells in different cell cycle stages. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 35:167–172, 2000

A pilot experiment for the micronucleus test: The multi-sampling at multi-dose levels method

A pilot experiment was undertaken to find the optimal dose range and sampling time in the micronucleus test; 2 animals per group were used. The chemical was injected at 4 different doses, and smear preparations were made from femoral marrow cells at 5 different sampling times for each dose group. The incidence of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes was scored on the preparations stained with acridine orange. When the data were arranged two-dimensionally, the optimal dose and sampling time which could be used for a further full-scale test, could be estimated. In addition, sex differences and the effect of multiple treatment can be estimated using this protocol with minor modifications.

Induction of chromosomal aberrations in cultured Chinese hamster cells in a superoxide-generating system.

The induction of chromosomal aberrations in a superoxide-generating system using xanthine oxidase and hypoxanthine was investigated in cultured Chinese hamster cells. The production of chromosomal aberations in this system was inhibited by the addition of cytochrome C. This finding indicates that the generation of superoxide was the primary requirement for induction of chromosomal aberrations. On the other hand, superoxide dismutase showed no effect on the frequency of chromosomal aberrations, whereas catalase was effective in preventing the aberrations. It is conceivable, therefore, that the induction of chromosomal aberrations in the superoxide-generating system may be directly or indirectly due to hydrogen peroxide formed in the cultured medium as a result of the spontaneous dismutation reaction of superoxide.

Mutagenicity of wood smoke condensates in the Salmonella/microsome assay

Smoke condensates of woods used for food preservation and aromatization in Nigeria were tested for mutagenic activity using Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100. The woods were: white mangrove (Avicennia nitida), red mangrove (Rhizophora racemosa), mahogany Khaya sp.), abura (Mitragyna ciliata), alstonia (Alstonia boonei) and black afara (Terminalia ivorensis). Cigarette tar was tested for comparison. The condensates induced dose-dependent increases in the number of His+ revertants mainly with S9 mix. With the exception of mahogany and cigarette smoke condensate, the smoke condensates induced more revertants/microgram condensate in TA100 than in TA98. The number of revertants/microgram condensate ranged between 0.04 and 0.9 for the wood smoke condensates and was 0.12 for the cigarette smoke in TA100. The range was between 0.1 and 0.30 for the wood smoke condensates and 0.18 revertants/microgram condensate for cigarette smoke condensate in TA98. Concentrations of 7 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the condensates were determined namely, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, benz[a]anthracene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[b]chrysene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene and dibenzo[a,e]pyrene. The condensates contained varying concentrations of the individual PAHs and those with higher concentrations generally showed greater mutagenic activities. However, the order of mutagenic potency in the bacterial strains differed from the order of PAH concentrations, which were lower than the concentrations at which they are reported to induce mutations. When 6 of the PAHs were mixed in the concentrations in which they were found in the individual condensates, the mixtures did not induce mutation so that the contribution of the PAHs to the mutagenic activities of the condensates could not be determined.

Establishment and characterization of three new rat renal cell carcinoma cell lines from N‐ethyl‐N‐hydroxyethylnitrosamine‐induced basophilic cell tumors

Three new rat cell lines (designated as BP13, BP30 and BP36B), derived from rat basophilic‐type renal cell carcinomas induced with N‐ethyl‐N‐hydroxyethylnitrosamine, were established and characterized. Passaged up to 100 times in vitro for 3 years, each cell line forms epithelial monolayers with cell cycles for BP13, BP30 and BP36B of 29, 21 and 17 h, respectively. Positive glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and γ‐glutamyltransferase (γ‐GT) activity in their cytoplasm, but negative succinate dehydrogenase (SD) and slightly positive carbonic anhydrase type II (CA) localization indicates an origin from proximal tubules. Ultrastructural examination showed the presence of variable numbers of mitochondria and many microvilli and intracellular junctions on the plasma membrane. BP13 and BP30 were found to be tetraploid and BP36B diploid. BP13 has one marker chromosome 15p+, and BP36B an isochromosome of 1q. Anchorage‐independent growth and tumorigenicity in immunosuppressed nude mice of BP13 and BP36B, but not BP30, proved their neoplastic nature. These three cell lines should provide useful tools for studying the biological characteristics of renal cell tumors.

Application of Laser Scanning Cytometry to the Analysis of Chromosomal Aberrations Induced by Benzo(a)pyrene in CHO-WBLT Cells

BACKGROUNDnA recently developed laser scanning cytometry technique was applied to cytometric studies to detect rapidly stable chromosomal aberrations induced by a carcinogen in a Chinese hamster fibroblast cell line, CHO-WBLT.nnnMETHODSnIndividual chromosomes were collected from metaphase cells by a syringe technique and spread on slides. The DNA content of each chromosome stained with propidium iodide was measured with a laser scanning cytometer (LSC). A characteristic DNA histogram, designated as the laser scanning karyotype (LSK), was obtained from about 20,000 chromosomes of CHO-WBLT cells. Each chromosome was confirmed morphologically under the microscope by using a re-location system built into the LSC.nnnRESULTSnA total of 21 chromosomes, including marker chromosomes specific to the cell line, were assigned to 10 major peaks in the LSK, which was analogous to the karyotype demonstrated with the classical Q-banding technique. In contrast, clonal sublines isolated after exposure to the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene showed LSKs different from those found in untreated control cells, and seven of 20 clones were found to be abnormal, with a small number of chromosomal translocations and/or deletions, which were confirmed by Q-banding.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe laser scanning cytometry technique was employed to detect stable chromosomal aberrations in CHO-WBLT cells after treatment with benzo[a]pyrene. The results obtained with this technique were comparable to those obtained by Q-banding; therefore, this method may be useful for rapid primary screening to detect stable, abnormal karyotypes induced by environmental chemicals and/or radiation.