Effects of fungal toxins on renal slice calcium balance

Low doses of the mycotoxin citrinin protect cortical neurons against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity

Citrinin, a natural mycotoxin that is found in fermented foods, is known as a cytotoxin and nephrotoxin. Exposure to high doses of citrinin result in apoptosis; however, the effects of low doses are not fully understood. Glutamate excitotoxicity is responsible for neuronal death in acute neurological disorders including stroke, trauma and other neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we show the neuroprotective effect of low doses of citrinin against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. We examined the effect of citrinin exposure on glutamate-induced cell death in cultured rat cortical neurons under two conditions: simultaneous treatment with citrinin 0.1 to 1,000 nM and glutamate (30 μM) for 1, 3 hr; the same simultaneous treatment for 3 hr after pretreatment with citrinin for 21 hr. Both the MTT and immunocytochemical assay showed significant neuroprotective effects at several doses and exposure times tested. All concentrations of citrinin tested showed no remarkable cell death following 14-day exposure, and no marked alterations to synapses. These data suggest that low doses of citrinin can be used as a neuroprotective agent against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity without additional harmful cellular alterations.

Effects of procaine and two of its metabolites on cisplatin-induced kidney injury in vitro: Mitochondrial aspects

The protective effects of procaine on cisplatin-induced kidney damage were studied with rat renal cortical slices in vitro. Cisplatin (2 mm) increased the leakage of the enzymes N-acetyl-beta-d-glucosaminidase, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase from the slices into the incubation medium five-fold, 10-fold and 11-fold, respectively. Procaine (2 mm) protected against this cellular damage and decreased the leakage to 50, 65 and 29% of that caused by cisplatin. Protection was also observed when the slices were treated with two metabolites of procaine [diethylaminoethanol (DEAE) and p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)], although these were slightly less effective than procaine. Cisplatin also increased mitochondrial lipid peroxidation to 177% of controls, and procaine, DEAE and PABA inhibited this cisplatin-induced increase by 24, 30 and 22%, respectively. Procaine, DEAE and PABA had no effects, however, on either the loss of mitochondrial protein-sulfhydryls or the decrease of Ca(2+) uptake by the mitochondria that were caused by cisplatin. These observations suggest that the protection by procaine and its metabolites results from their inhibitory activity on the mitochondrial lipid peroxidation that was induced by cisplatin.

Ochratoxin A: An overview on toxicity and carcinogenicity in animals and humans

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a ubiquitous mycotoxin produced by fungi of improperly stored food products. OTA is nephrotoxic and is suspected of being the main etiological agent responsible for human Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) and associated urinary tract tumours. Striking similarities between OTA-induced porcine nephropathy in pigs and BEN in humans are observed. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified OTA as a possible human carcinogen (group 2B). Currently, the mode of carcinogenic action by OTA is unknown. OTA is genotoxic following oxidative metabolism. This activity is thought to play a central role in OTA-mediated carcinogenesis and may be divided into direct (covalent DNA adduction) and indirect (oxidative DNA damage) mechanisms of action. Evidence for a direct mode of genotoxicity has been derived from the sensitive 32P-postlabelling assay. OTA facilitates guanine-specific DNA adducts in vitro and in rat and pig kidney orally dosed, one adduct comigrates with a synthetic carbon (C)-bonded C8-dG OTA adduct standard. In this paper, our current understanding of OTA toxicity and carcinogenicity are reviewed. The available evidence suggests that OTA is a genotoxic carcinogen by induction of oxidative DNA lesions coupled with direct DNA adducts via quinone formation. This mechanism of action should be used to establish acceptable intake levels of OTA from human food sources.

Alterations in ATP-dependent calcium uptake by rat renal cortex microsomes following ochratoxin A administration in vivo or addition in vitro

A disruption of calcium homeostasis, leading to a sustained increase in cytosolic calcium levels, has been associated with cytotoxicity in response to a variety of agents in different cell types. We have observed that administration of a single high dose or multiple lower doses of the carcinogenic nephrotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) to rats resulted in an increase of the renal cortex endoplasmic reticulum ATP-dependent calcium pump activity. The increase was very rapid, being evident within 10 min of OTA administration and remained elevated for at least 6 hr thereafter. The increase in calcium pump activity was inconsistent with previous observations that OTA enhances lipid peroxidation (ethane exhalation) in vivo, a condition known to inhibit the calcium pump. However, no evidence of enhanced lipid peroxidation was observed in the renal cortex since levels of malondialdehyde and a variety of antioxidant enzymes including catalase, DT-diaphorase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and glutathione S-transferase were either unaltered or reduced. In in vitro studies, addition of OTA to cortex microsomes during calcium uptake inhibited the uptake process although the effect was reversible. Preincubation of microsomes with NADPH had a profound inhibitory effect on calcium uptake but inclusion of OTA was able to reverse the inhibition. Changes in the rates of microsomal calcium uptake correlated with changes in the steady-state levels of the phosphorylated Mg2+/Ca(2+)-ATPase intermediate, suggesting that in vivo/in vitro conditions were affecting the rate of enzyme phosphorylation.

The mechanism of patulin's cytotoxicity and the antioxidant activity of indole tetramic acids

In LLC-PK1 cells exposed to patulin (50 microM), lipid peroxidation, abrupt calcium influx, extensive blebbing, and total LDH release appeared to be serially connected events with each representing a step in the loss of structural integrity of the plasma membrane. The aforementioned patulin-induced events were prevented by concurrent incubation with butylated hydroxytoluene, deferoxamine, and cyclopiazonic acid, a fungal metabolite. Patulin also caused depletion of nonprotein sulfhydryls, increased 86Rb+ efflux, dome collapse, and eventually the loss of cell viability. These events were not prevented by antioxidants, results consistent with the hypothesis that they were also serially connected but occurring parallel to those previously mentioned. The earliest events observed in patulin-treated cells were the decrease in nonprotein sulfhydryls and increase in 86Rb+ efflux (5 min) which occurred before statistically significant alterations in protein-bound sulfhydryls. The increased potassium efflux (86Rb+ efflux) occurred via a pathway distinct from BaCl2, quinine, or tetraethylammonium sensitive potassium channels. This is the first published report of the antioxidant activity of indole tetramic acids (cyclopiazonic acid and cyclopiazonic acid imine). The protective effect of tetramic acids in LLC-PK1 cells was restricted to indole tetramic acids, and their prevention of lipid peroxidation did not involve iron chelation. The results of this study demonstrate that cyclopiazonic acid is a potent inhibitor of azide-insensitive, ATP-dependent, a23187-sensitive calcium uptake by the lysate of LLC-PK1 cells. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that the endoplasmic reticulum calcium transport ATPase is a sensitive target for cyclopiazonic acid in LLC-PK1 cells. These findings raise the interesting possibility that the antioxidant activity of indole tetramic acids may involve multiple novel mechanisms: surface charge alterations on the cytoplasmic surface of plasma membranes, alterations in calcium permeability in the plasma and endoplasmic reticulum membrane, and inhibition of the calcium-dependent ATPase of the endoplasmic reticulum.

Perturbation of liver microsomal calcium homeostasis by ochratoxin A

The effect of ochratoxin A on hepatic microsomal calcium sequestration was studied both in vivo and in vitro. The rate of ATP-dependent calcium uptake was inhibited by 42-45% in ochratoxin A intoxicated rats as compared to controls. In the presence of NADPH, addition of ochratoxin A (2.5 to 100 microM) caused a concentration-dependent inhibition of calcium uptake (28-94%) by untreated rat liver microsomes. The rate of NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation, measured as malondialdehyde formed, was also greatly enhanced by ochratoxin A. Various agents that inhibited ochratoxin A enhanced lipid peroxidation were also able to block the destruction of calcium uptake activity. Lipid peroxidation enhanced by ochratoxin A was also accompanied by leakage of calcium from calcium-loaded microsomes. These results suggest that ochratoxin A disrupts microsomal calcium homeostasis by an impairment of the endoplasmic reticulum membrane probably via enhanced lipid peroxidation.