Photolysis in a culture medium for Tetrahymena pyriformis

Genotoxicity of photoilluminated riboflavin in the presence of Cu(II)

Riboflavin is known to generate superoxide anion (O2.-) and other reactive oxygen species in the presence of Cu(II) and light as well as cause fragmentation of DNA and protein in vitro. In the present study we examined the genotoxic effects of photoilluminated riboflavin in the presence of Cu(II). Using the phage inactivation assay, a significant decline in plaque-forming unit (PFU) is seen. Results of Ames testing have suggested that probably a frameshift mutation is caused by a riboflavin-Cu(II)-mediated reaction. Using neocuproine as a Cu(I) sequestering reagent, Cu(I) has been shown to be an essential intermediate generated in the reaction between Cu(II), photoilluminated riboflavin, and DNA. Results obtained with various scavengers of active oxygen species strongly suggest that the species predominantly responsible for DNA damage is oxygen (O2) in the singlet or triplet state, together with H2O2, hydroxyl radical, and hydroxyl ion, to a lesser extent. In the case of riboflavin, a ternary complex of DNA-drug-Cu(II) is presumably formed. A redox reaction, involving riboflavin and Cu(II) in the complex, may then occur with the formation of a DNA-oxidized riboflavin-Cu(I) complex. This probably acts as a catalyst for the oxidation of Cu (I) to Cu(II), during which molecular oxygen is reduced to generate a variety of active oxygen species. The probable mechanism for the generation of these reactive oxygen species has also been proposed.

Assessment of the genotoxic potential of riboflavin and lumiflavin. A. Effect of metabolic enzymes

The mutagenic potential of riboflavin and its photodegradation product lumiflavin was evaluated using the umu test, SOS chromotest and Ames Salmonella assay. Both riboflavin and lumiflavin by themselves were found to be non-mutagenic. On treatment with rat liver microsomal enzymes (S9) or caecal cell-free extract (CCE), lumiflavin acquired mutagenicity, while the status of riboflavin remained unaffected. Activation of lumiflavin by metabolic enzymes was found to result in an alteration of its spectral characteristics.

Studies on the conditions required for optimum recovery of Tetrahymena pyriformis strain S (Phenoset A) after freezing to and thawing from -196 C

The toxicity of several cryoprotective agents was tested at room temperature (23 C) against Tetrahymena pyriformis strain S (Phenoset A) at different stages of growth cycle. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-40) at 10 per cent (v/v) concentration was without effect at any stage in the growth cycle, while 1.2 M glycerol immobilized the cells which were disrupted very shortly afterwards. The toxicity of 0.25 M glucose was largely independent of the position of the cells in the growth cycle, but the toxicity of 0.25 M sucrose and 1.4 M dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) was most marked in late log- and stATIONARY-PHASE CELLS. After log-phase cells had been equilibrated with 1.4 M DMSO for 1 hr, the number of cells surviving cooling at defined rates from 0.45 to 12 C/min decreased as the final temperature decreased from -30 to -60 C. A temperature of -53 C was found to be the optimum from which cells cooled at a given rate could be cooled rapidly to -196 C. Nevertheless, when cells were cooled at defined rates to -35, -45, or -53 C and then rapidly to -196 c the optimum rate of cooling to these temperatures was found to be 1 C/min. The optimum rate of cooling to -60 C prior to plunging into liquid nitrogen was found to be 2.7 C/min.

Antiprotozoal activity of rubratoxin B

Growth of Tetrahymena pyriformis HSM was inhibited by a concentration of 25 mug of rubratoxin B per ml of growth medium. The inhibitory effect of aflatoxin B(1)-rubratoxin B mixtures on growth of T. pyriformis was induced by rubratoxin B only. Total cellular deoxyribonucleic acid increased in the presence of 5 mug of rubratoxin B per ml of growth medium, whereas higher concentrations (25 mug/ml of growth medium) were required before a decrease in total protein was observed.

Photoinhibition of growth in Acanthamoeba castellanii cultures

Light from 350 to 680 nm at intensities up to 1.62 x 10(5) ergs per sec per cm(2) slowed exponential growth and lowered the maximum yield in axenic cultures of Acanthamoeba castellanii. Photoinhibition was a linear function of light intensity up to 1.25 x 10(5) ergs per sec per cm(2). At higher intensities, growth was too slow to be measured accurately. A photochemical change occurring in the growth medium on irradiation was a function of light dosage and not intensity per se. Light in dosages which appreciably changed the growth-supporting properties of the medium exceeded the dosages received by exponentially growing cultures during irradiation. Consequently, photoinhibition of growth was attributed to a direct effect of light on the amoebae, not to photodegradation of the medium. The growth-supporting properties of irradiated media could be restored by the addition of yeast extract and Proteose peptone. The reduced growth rate in the light was not due to cyst formation or induction of multinuclearity. Light affected the amoebae either through absorption by intracellular pigment(s) or through binding to the amoebae of a photosensitizing compound in the medium.