Implications of hemopoietic progenitor cell kinetics and experimental leukemogenesis: Relevance to Gompertzean mortality as possible hematotoxicological endpoint

Cell cycle of primitive hematopoietic progenitors decelerated in senescent mice is reactively accelerated after 2-Gy whole-body irradiation

Aging is considered to be a functional retardation of continuous xenobiotic responses over a lifetime after the developmental period; thus, the effects of ionizing radiation over a lifetime may be somewhat accounted for by a modifier of aging effects. This study was conducted to evaluate the possible/synergic effects of radiation during aging by determining cell-cycle parameters of hematopoietic stem cells/hematopoietic progenitor cells (HSCs/HPCs), such as the percent of cells in cycling, the generation doubling time, and the cumulative cycling-cell fraction, by bromodeoxyuridine-ultraviolet assay, which enables the determination of their cycling capacity in vivo. Colony-forming progenitor cells, such as colony-forming unit (CFU)-granulocyte/macrophage (GM), CFU in the spleen on day 9 (CFU-S9), and CFU-S on day 13 (CFU-S13) for mature, less mature, and immature HPCs, respectively, were evaluated in young and old mice (6 weeks and 21 months of age, respectively) with or without 2-Gy whole-body irradiation and a 4-week recovery period. Then, cell-cycle parameters were evaluated and compared. As a result, the generation doubling time of all types of HPC was prolonged by the irradiation in both young and old mouse groups, except that of CFU-S13 in old mice, which showed acceleration of the cell cycle following the irradiation. In addition, only CFU-S13 in irradiated old mice showed a significant increase in the cumulative cycling-cell-fraction ratio. Significant changes due to the effects of aging and irradiation on HPCs were observed only in the immature HPCs, i.e., the cell cycle of immature HPCs was suppressed by aging without irradiation and was, in contrast, accelerated as the cells recovered from radiation-induced damage. This suggests that the mechanisms of peripheral blood recovery after 2-Gy whole-body irradiation are markedly different between young and old mice, although 21-month-old mice showed almost the same level of recovery as the young mice.

The low-dose issue and stochastic responses to endocrine disruptors

The impact of endocrine disruptors, and specifically the low-dose issue, involves interdisciplinary sciences. Thus, in the past these topics have been published widely in the toxicology area. Owing to recent developments in biology, including the whole-genome reading program, the mechanisms underlying the low-dose issue have been clarified. These mechanisms have been found to involve stochastic and probabilistic receptor-mediated adverse effects induced by endocrine disruptors. The effects thought to be induced by low doses of endocrine-disrupting chemicals remain disputed, and the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Three independent factors, each only recently identified and never before encountered in the history of toxicological studies, are associated with what is termed the 'low-dose issue'. First, toxicological risk has been estimated only by extrapolation of adverse phenotypes from high-dose effects and thus provides no reliable information on low-dose effects observed at the right time under experimental paradigm with sufficient sensitivity. Second, toxicity is based on disturbances of homeostatic regulation, a largely unexplored area in toxicology. Third, toxicity is based on stochastic and probabilistic xenobiotic response, a new field of toxicology that is specifically linked to low-dose and less-frequent events. To resolve the low-dose issue whether it causes effects or whether effects observed at low-doses should be considered 'adverse'--or both, each of these factors needs to be addressed.

Analyzing observed or hidden heterogeneity on survival and mortality in an isogenic C. elegans cohort

It is generally difficult to understand the rates of human mortality from biological and biophysical standpoints because there are no cohorts or genetic homogeneity; in addition, information is limited regarding the various causes of death, such as the types of accidents and diseases. Despite such complexity, Gompertz's rule is useful in humans. Thus, to characterize the rates of mortality from a demographic viewpoint, it would be interesting to research a single disease in one of the simplest organisms, the nematode C. elegans, which dies naturally under identically controlled circumstances without predators. Here, we report an example of the fact that heterogeneity on survival and mortality is observed through a single disease in a cohort of 100% genetically identical (isogenic) nematodes. Under the observed heterogeneity, we show that the diffusion theory, as a biophysical model, can precisely analyze the heterogeneity and conveniently estimate the degree of penetrance of a lifespan gene from the biodemographic data. In addition, we indicate that heterogeneity models are effective for the present heterogeneous data.