Endothelial cell cystine uptake and glutathione increase with N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitrosourea exposure

1992 ◽  
Vol 262 (3) ◽  
pp. L301-L304 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Deneke ◽  
R. A. Lawrence ◽  
S. G. Jenkinson

Glutathione (gamma-glutamylcysteinylglycine, GSH) is an important cellular antioxidant. In typical cultured cell preparations GSH synthesis is limited by the availability of intracellular cysteine. Because extracellular cystine is the chief source of intracellular cysteine in cultured cells, increasing cystine transport can result in increased intracellular GSH. Depletion of GSH or exposure to oxidants has been shown to stimulate cystine transport in bovine pulmonary endothelial cells and other cell types. BCNU [N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitrosourea] is a potent inhibitor of glutathione reductase (GSSG-Red). We examined the effects of BCNU on cystine uptake by bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (BPAEC). We hypothesized that blocking GSSG-Red could result in increased cellular uptake of cystine to replenish decreases in GSH caused by oxidation. Levels of BCNU between 0.005 and 0.05 mM added to the cell culture medium inhibited GSSG-Red at 2, 4, and 24 h after addition. BCNU treatment resulted in concentration-dependent increases in both cystine uptake and GSH levels after 24 h of exposure. The increases in uptake were specific for cystine and glutamate and were sodium independent, suggesting induction of a xc(-)-like transport system. No intracellular accumulation of GSSG was measured nor was any significant depletion of GSH noted at any time of BCNU exposure.

1992 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lillemor Lewan ◽  
Marianne Andersson ◽  
Paloma Morales-Gomez

This study shows that the Artemia assay, which is usually performed by incubation for a 24-hour period in artificial sea water, can also be performed in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at pH 7.2, or in a cell culture medium, both of which are used in toxicity assays employing mammalian cells. Thus, by using the equivalent media for incubation, toxic effects in the Artemia assay and toxic mechanisms can more accurately be compared with results obtained in mammalian cell toxicity. Survival of control animals is good for 72 hours, provided that infection can be avoided. A pH greater than 6 is essential for good survival of Artemia Salina, and a pH greater than 10.5 should be avoided. Because of the risk of infection at low saline concentrations, a decreased incubation time of 16 or 12 hours is recommended. The lethal concentrations (LC10 and LC50) in the 24-hour Artemia assay of the first ten chemicals in the MEIC programme were measured in PBS, and the results compared with those from a previous study of the effects in a 10-minute acute ATP leakage assay, specifically indicating lesions in the cell membrane. The EC10 and EC50 values for the alcohols in the Artemia assay were 35–75% of the corresponding values in the ATP leakage assay. For paracetamol and amitriptyline, the EC10 and EC50 values in the Artemia assay were 2–16% of the corresponding values in the ATP-leakage assay. The greatly increased toxicity of the two compounds in the animals may be related to systemic effects. FeSO4 was very toxic to Artemia salina at a concentration of lug/ml, but it did not cause leakage of ATP from cultured cells, even at a concentration of 8,000μg/ml, showing that widely different mechanisms of interaction with FeSO4 are measured by the two assays. A lower toxicity of polygodial, a sesquiterpenoid unsaturated dialdehyde, in cell culture medium, was obvious in the Artemia assay. Thus, some factors in cell culture medium must, by interacting with the toxic molecule, protect the animals against the toxicity of polygodial, as was previously found in cultured cells.


1998 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 2290-2299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina E. Eremeeva ◽  
David J. Silverman

ABSTRACT Rickettsia rickettsii infection of endothelial cells is manifested in very distinctive changes in cell morphology, consisting of extensive dilatation of the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum and outer nuclear envelope and blebbing of the plasma membrane, as seen by transmission electron microscopy (D. J. Silverman, Infect. Immun. 44:545–553, 1984). These changes in cellular architecture are thought to be due to oxidant-mediated cell injury, since their occurrence correlates with dramatic alterations in cellular metabolism, particularly with regard to antioxidant systems. In this study, it was shown that R. rickettsii infection of human umbilical vein endothelial cells resulted in a significant depletion of intracellular reduced glutathione (thiol) content at 72 and 96 h and decreased glutathione peroxidase activity at 72 h postinfection. Infected cells displayed a dramatic increase in the concentration of intracellular peroxides by 72 h. Supplementation of the cell culture medium with 100, 200, or 500 μM α-lipoic acid, a metabolic antioxidant, after inoculation with R. rickettsii restored the intracellular levels of thiols and glutathione peroxidase and reduced the intracellular peroxide levels in infected cells. These effects were dose dependent. Treated infected monolayers maintained better viability at 96 h after inoculation with R. rickettsii than did untreated infected cells. Moreover, supplementation of the cell culture medium with 100 μM α-lipoic acid for 72 h after infection prevented the occurrence of morphological changes in the infected cells. The presence of 100 or 200 μM α-lipoic acid did not influence rickettsial growth in endothelial cells, nor did it affect the ability of R. rickettsii to form lytic plaques in Vero cells. Treatment with 500 μM α-lipoic acid decreased by 50% both the number and size of lytic plaques in Vero cells, and it also decreased the recovery of viable rickettsiae from endothelial cells. However, under all treatment conditions, a significant number of rickettsiae could be detected microscopically. Furthermore, the rickettsiae apparently retained their capacity for intracellular movement, since they possessed long polymerized actin tails after 72 and 96 h of treatment regardless of the concentration of α-lipoic acid used. Since α-lipoic acid does not seem to exhibit direct antirickettsial activity except with long-term exposure at very high concentrations, the mechanism of its protective activity for endothelial cells infected with rickettsiae may involve complex changes in cellular metabolism that only indirectly affect rickettsiae.


Author(s):  
Darja Lisjak ◽  
Maša Vozlič ◽  
Uliana Kostiv ◽  
Daniel Horak ◽  
Boris Majaron ◽  
...  

Abstract The increasing interest in upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) in biodiagnostics and therapy fuels the development of biocompatible UCNPs platforms. UCNPs are typically nanocrystallites of rare-earth fluorides codoped with Yb3+ and Er3+ or Tm3+. The most studied UCNPs are based on NaYF4 but are not chemically stable in water. They dissolve significantly in the presence of phosphates. To prevent any adverse effects on the UCNPs induced by cellular phosphates, the surfaces of UCNPs must be made chemically inert and stable by suitable coatings. We studied the effect of various phosphonate coatings on chemical stability and in vitro cytotoxicity of the Yb3+,Er3+-codoped NaYF4 UCNPs in human endothelial cells obtained from cellular line Ea.hy926. Cell viability of endothelial cells was determined using the resazurin-based assay after the short-term (15 min), and long-term (24 h and 48 h) incubations with UCNPs dispersed in the cell-culture medium. The coatings were obtained from tertaphosphonic acid (EDTMP), sodium alendronate, and poly(ethylene glycol)-neridronate. Regardless of the coating conditions, 1−2 nm-thick amorphous surface layers were observed on the UCNPs with transmission electron microscopy. The upconversion fluorescence was measured in the dispersions of all synthesized UCNPs. Surface quenching in aqueous suspensions of the UCNPs was reduced by the coatings. The dissolution degree of the UCNPs was determined from the concentration of dissolved fluoride measured with ion-selective electrode after the aging of UCNPs in water, physiological buffer (i.e., phosphate-buffered saline – PBS), and cell-culture medium. The phosphonate coatings prepared at 80 °C significantly suppressed the dissolution of UCNPs in PBS, while only minor dissolution of bare and coated UCNPs was measured in water and cell-culture medium. The viability of human endothelial cells was significantly reduced when incubated with UCNPs, but it increased with the improved chemical stability of UCNPs by the phosphonate coatings with negligible cytotoxicity when coated with EDTMP at 80 °C.


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