title: Utility of the murine erythroleukemic cell (MELC) in assessing mechanisms of action of DNA-active developmental toxicants: application to 5-fluorouracil.
abstract: Murine erythroleukemic cells (MELC) exposed to 2'-deoxy-5-azacytidine (D-AZA) or to the active cyclophosphamide (CP) metabolites phosphoramide mustard (PAM) and 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide (OHCP) exhibit cell-cycle perturbations similar to those seen in limb bud nuclei of gestational day (GD) 10 CD-1 mouse embryos exposed in utero to D-AZA or CP, respectively. The similarities in response suggest MELC may be a useful model for determining mechanisms of action of DNA-active developmental toxicants. As such, we used the MELC model to investigate the mechanism of action of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), an antimetabolite that induced in GD 14 rat fetuses an apparent S-phase accumulation in limb cells 8 hr after in utero exposure, but S-phase depletion in liver cells 24 hr postexposure. MELC timed-recovery and synchronization studies suggest that in proliferative tissues, 5-FU induces an early S-phase accumulation, followed by a synchronous, concentration-dependent delay in progression through the cell cycle. Consequently, it is the tissue-specific rate of delay, rather than different mechanisms of action, that results in apparent tissue-specific perturbations. Moreover, growth and cell-cycle data suggest that cells entering S phase (when TS activity is greatest) are the most sensitive to 5-FU toxicity. Assays of the TS activity of recovering MELC reveal that although the initial extent of TS inhibition does not appear to be concentration-dependent, the time to recovery is, suggesting that the rate of S-phase progression is closely associated with TS activity. Together, the induction of similar cell-cycle perturbations in embryonic/fetal tissues and MELC following exposure to CP (or CP metabolites), D-AZA, or 5-FU, as well as the adaptability of MELC to a variety of kinetic assays suggests that, for those developmental toxicants suspected of inducing cell-cycle perturbations in embryonic/fetal tissues, MELC may prove useful for elucidating mechanisms of action.
authors.affiliation: ManTech Environmental Technology, Inc., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709.
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Elstein
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Zucker
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Shuey
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chernoff
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rogers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001374:Azacitidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000633:toxicity; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D046508:Culture Techniques; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000633:toxicity; D004247:DNA / Q000187:drug effects*; D000077209:Decitabine; D005333:Fetus / Q000187:drug effects; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000633:toxicity; D004915:Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute; D051379:Mice; D013723:Teratogens / Q000633:toxicity*; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D014116:Toxicology / Q000379:methods*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D013723:Teratogens; D000077209:Decitabine; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D004247:DNA; D013940:Thymidylate Synthase; D001374:Azacitidine; D005472:Fluorouracil