Formation of benzo[a]pyrene-DNA adducts by microsomal enzymes: comparison of maternal and fetal liver, fetal hematopoietic cells and placenta

Genomic and transcriptional alterations in mouse fetus liver after transplacental exposure to cigarette smoke

The transplacental exposure of fetuses to maternal cigarette smoke may increase the risk of developmental impairments, congenital diseases, and childhood cancer. The whole-body exposure of Swiss mice to environmental cigarette smoke (ECS) during pregnancy decreased the number of fetuses per dam, placenta weight, and fetus weight. ECS increased DNA adducts, oxidative nucleotide alterations, and cytogenetic damage in fetus liver. Evaluation by cDNA array of 746 genes showed that 61 of them were expressed in fetus liver under basal conditions. The oral administration of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) during pregnancy enhanced the expression of three genes only, including two glutathione S-transferases and alpha1-antitrypsin precursor, whose deficiency plays a pathogenetic role in congenital emphysema. Transplacental ECS upregulated the expression of 116 genes involved in metabolism, response to oxidative stress, DNA and protein repair, and signal transduction. NAC inhibited the ECS-related genetic damage and upregulation of most genes. ECS stimulated pro-apoptotic genes and genes downregulating the cell cycle, which may justify growth impairments in the developing fetus. Thus, both genetic and epigenetic mechanisms were modulated by ECS. Moreover, hypoxia-related genes and several oncogenes and receptors involved in proliferation and differentiation of leukocytes were induced in the fetal liver, which also bears hematopoietic functions.

Variability in aflatoxin B(1)-macromolecular binding and relationship to biotransformation enzyme expression in human prenatal and adult liver

Studies of transplacental transfer of aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) suggest that the developing human fetus may be a sensitive target for AFB(1) injury. Because AFB(1) requires metabolic activation to the reactive AFB(1)-8,9-exo-epoxide (AFBO) to exert its carcinogenic effects, ontogenic and interindividual differences in AFB(1) biotransformation enzymes may underlie susceptibility to AFB(1)-induced cell injury. The present study was initiated to compare the rates of in vitro AFB(1)-DNA and AFB(1)-protein adduct formation among a panel of 10 adult and 10 second-trimester prenatal livers and to examine the relationship among AFB(1) metabolizing enzyme expression and AFB(1) binding. Mixtures of cytosolic and microsomal proteins from prenatal and adult livers catalyzed the formation of AFB(1)-DNA and AFB(1)-protein adducts at relatively similar rates, although greater individual variability in AFB(1) adduct formation was observed in adult tissues. Extensive interindividual variation among adult tissues was observed in the expression of the AFB(1) activation enzymes cytochrome P4501A2 (CYP1A2), CYP3A4/5, and lipoxygenase (LO). Prenatal CYP3A7 expression was also highly variable. LO expression was eightfold higher in prenatal liver tissues than adults, whereas the expression of the AFBO detoxification enzyme microsomal epoxide hydrolase was twofold higher in adult liver. The levels of the polymorphic glutathione S-transferase M1 (hGSTM1-1), which may potentially protect against AFBO injury, were higher in the hGSTM1-1-expressing tissues of adults in relation to prenatal livers. In general, there was not a strong relationship among AFB(1)-DNA or AFB(1)-protein adduct formation and expression levels of individual AFB(1) metabolizing enzymes. In summary, despite the presence of marked individual and ontogenic differences in the expression of AFB(1) metabolizing enzymes, human second trimester prenatal liver tissues compared to adults do not exhibit a marked sensitivity to the in vitro formation of macromolecular AFB(1) adducts.

ATSDR evaluation of health effects of chemicals. IV. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): understanding a complex problem

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, or other organic substances, such as tobacco and charbroiled meat. There are more than 100 PAHs. PAHs generally occur as complex mixtures (for example, as part of products such as soot), not as single compounds. PAHs are found throughout the environment in the air, water, and soil. As part of its mandate, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) prepares toxicological profiles on hazardous chemicals, including PAHs (ATSDR, 1995), found at facilities on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) National Priorities List (NPL) and which pose the most significant potential threat to human health, as determined by ATSDR and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These profiles include information on health effects of chemicals from different routes and durations of exposure, their potential for exposure, regulations and advisories, and the adequacy of the existing database. Assessing the health effects of PAHs is a major challenge because environmental exposures to these chemicals are usually to complex mixtures of PAHs with other chemicals. The biological consequences of human exposure to mixtures of PAHs depend on the toxicity, carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic, of the individual components of the mixture, the types of interactions among them, and confounding factors that are not thoroughly understood. Also identified are components of exposure and health effects research needed on PAHs that will allow estimation of realistic human health risks posed by exposures to PAHs. The exposure assessment component of research should focus on (1) development of reliable analytical methods for the determination of bioavailable PAHs following ingestion, (2) estimation of bioavailable PAHs from environmental media, particularly the determination of particle-bound PAHs, (3) data on ambient levels of PAHs metabolites in tissues/fluids of control populations, and (4) the need for a critical evaluation of current levels of PAHs found in environmental media including data from hazardous waste sites. The health effects component should focus on obtaining information on (1) the health effects of mixtures of PAHs particularly their noncarcinogenic effects in humans, and (2) their toxicokinetics. This report provides excerpts from the toxicological profile of PAHs (ATSDR, 1995) that contains more detailed information.

Fetal hematopoietic alterations after maternal exposure to benzo[a]pyrene: a cytometric evaluation

In utero exposure to the environmental contaminant benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) was found to alter expression of murine thymocyte and liver fetal cell-surface markers. Pregnant mice were treated (via gavage) with 0, 50, 100, or 150 mg BaP/kg/d on gestational days (gd) 13-17, and offspring were examined on gd 18. Severe thymic atrophy and cellular depletion were found in BaP-exposed fetal mice. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that the BaP treatment resulted in a significant decrease in the percentage of CD4+8+ fetal thymocytes, as well as significantly increased CD4-8- and CD4-8+ thymocytes. Staining of thymocytes with anti-mouse heat-stable antigen (HSA) and CD8 monoclonal antibodies produced similar results. These data suggest that BaP, in addition to producing thymic hypocellularity, inhibits normal thymocyte maturation processes. The BaP treatment was also found to decrease total fetal liver cellularity including numbers of cells within resident hematopoietic subpopulations. In particular, prolymphocytic cells, identified by CD44 and CD45R antigen expression and by presence of nuclear terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT), were significantly decreased in animals gestationally exposed to BaP. These data, taken together, indicate that postnatal suppression of cell and humoral-mediated immune function following in utero exposure to BaP may result from multiple targeting of immune cells at different hematopoietic levels. Furthermore, results of the present study identify both qualitative and quantitative changes in fetal immune cell antigen expression that correlate well with the postnatal immunosuppression that occurs in experimental animals exposed to this carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.

Effects of benzo(a)pyrene and nicotine on prostaglandin synthesis in buccal pouch and submandibular glands of the Syrian hamster

Adult male Syrian hamsters were treated by swabbing the apex of the buccal pouch with corn oil (control, C), 1 mM benzo(a)pyrene (BP), nicotine (NC), or BP+NC in corn oil, twice daily, 5 days a week. After a 4-week treatment, the pouches and submandibular glands were dissected and used for the determination of endogenous prostaglandin (PG) production and studies on in vitro PG synthesis. Of the three PGs analysed (PGE2, PGF2 alpha and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha), PGE2 was predominant in the pouch and the glands. BP or NC alone had only a weak effect on PG synthesis in both tissues. However, the combination of BP and NC had a synergistic effect, causing diminished PG synthesis in both tissues. In buccal pouch, BP+NC significantly decreased the concentrations of endogenous PGE2 and PGF2 alpha (PGE2: 0.669 +/- 0.254 versus 1.698 +/- 0.460, PGF2 alpha: 0.273 +/- 0.090 versus 0.625 +/- 0.272 ng/g tissue; BP+NC versus C; mean +/- SD, n = 5, p < 0.05). Similarly significant results were also found for in vitro PG synthesis (PGE2: 0.541 +/- 0.249 versus 1.399 +/- 0.340, PGF2 alpha: 1.045 +/- 0.428 versus 2.133 +/- 0.510 ng/g tissue; BP+NC versus C; mean +/- SD, n = 5, p < 0.05). In submandibular glands, BP+NC significantly diminished the concentration of endogenous PGE2 (1.183 +/- 0.175 versus 2.379 +/- 0.488 ng/g tissue; BP+NC versus C; mean +/- SD, n = 5, p < 0.05). The synthesis of 6-keto-PGF1 alpha in both tissues, and the synthesis of PGF2 alpha in submandibular gland, were slightly decreased with all treatments.

Induction of cytochrome P-450IA1 in fetal rat liver by a single dose of 3-methylcholanthrene

Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with a single ip dose of either olive oil or 40 mg/kg of 3-methylcholanthrene on gestation day 20 and sacrificed at various times after injection. Determination of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity 24 hr after injection revealed that treatment with 3-methylcholanthrene resulted in a 10.5-fold stimulation of enzymatic activity in liver 800 x g supernatants. Western blot analysis with monoclonal antibody 1-7-1 confirmed these results and demonstrated the presence of a 3-methylcholanthrene-inducible P-450 isozyme. Using Northern and slot blot techniques, the induction of steady-state levels of CYPIA1 RNA was shown to occur as early as 4 hr following 3-methylcholanthrene injection. CYPIA1 RNA levels were induced 31.6-fold over values obtained from oil-treated tissues at this time. This appears to be the optimal time to study changes in the levels of CYPIA1 RNA gene expression in the fetus following transplacental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. By 12 to 24 hr postinjection, the induction of CYPIA1 RNA levels declined to 3.5- to 8.5-fold above control values. These results demonstrate that the kinetics of induction of the CYPIA1 gene during the fetal period differed from that seen in adults.

Comparison of the formation of benzo[a]pyrene diolepoxide-DNA adducts in vitro by rat and human microsomes: evidence for the involvement of P-450IA1 and P-450IA2

The involvement of cytochrome P-450 isozymes in the activation of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) by human placental and liver microsomes was studied in vitro using monoclonal antibodies (Mab) toward the major 3-methylcholanthrene (MC)-inducible and phenobarbital-inductible rat liver P-450 isozymes (Mab 1-7-1 and Mab 2-66-3, respectively). Microsomes from human placenta and liver and rat liver were incubated with BP and DNA, and BP-diolepoxide-DNA (BPDE-DNA) adducts were measured by synchronous fluorescence spectrophotometry (SFS). The only BP metabolite giving the same fluorescence peak as chemically modified BPDE-DNA was BP-7,8-dihydrodiol. Five (smokers) out of 29 human placentas (smokers and nonsmokers), and five out of nine human livers were able to metabolically activate BP to BPDE-DNA adducts in this system. The Mab 1-7-1 totally inhibited the formation of BPDE-DNA adducts in placental microsomal incubations. Inhibition using rat or human liver microsomes was 50-60% and about 90%, respectively. The Mab 2-66-3 had no effect in any of the microsome types. Adduct formation was inhibited more strongly and at lower concentrations of Mab 1-7-1 compared with the inhibition of AHH activity. This study is a clear indication of the major role of P-450IA1 (P-450c) in human placenta and probably P-450IA2 (P-450d) in human liver in BP activation, while other isozymes also take part in the activation in rat liver. Furthermore, this clearly indicates that AHH activity and BP activation are not necessarily associated.