Effects of cyclophosphamide and acrolein in organoid cultures of mouse limb bud cells grown in the presence of adult rat hepatocytes.
The effects were evaluated of cyclophosphamide (CPA) and its metabolite, acrolein, on chondrogenesis in organoid cultures of mouse limb bud mesenchymal cells co-cultured with non-enzymatically isolated adult rat hepatocytes. The studies were conducted with or without the simultaneous addition of 2-mercaptoethanesulphonic acid sodium (mesna) or glutathione (GSH). Alcian blue binding assay and light and electron microscopic techniques were used. Increasing concentrations of the two compounds (bioactivated CPA, 18-180 mum; acrolein, 50-500 mum) led to a dose-dependent inhibition of chondrogenesis associated with cellular dedifferentiation and/or cytotoxicity. Addition of mesna (1 mm) or GSH (1 mm) partially protected the cultures against CPA and acrolein. However, the protective effect depended on the dose of CPA or acrolein used. A higher protection was observed with mesna than with GSH, and the effect was more pronounced with acrolein than with CPA. The morphological findings suggested that CPA and acrolein acted by different mechanisms. Bioactivated CPA primarily inhibited the differentiation process, whereas acrolein exhibited a high cytotoxic activity affecting particularly monolayer cells that normally grow on the periphery of the cultures. These findings suggest that acrolein possesses a specific mode of action directed towards this type of cell. This could be explained by the specific shape and/or behaviour of the cells (i.e. cytoskeletal arrangement, proliferation rate, migration activity, intercellular communication pattern, etc.). The results demonstrated that the cell system used was suitable for the performance of cytotoxicity and teratogenicity studies such as those conducted with CPA and acrolein.
Ghaida
J
J
Institute of Anatomy, Free University of Berlin, Garystrasse 5, D-1000 Berlin 33, Germany; Institute of Toxicology and Prenatal Pharmacology, Free University of Berlin, Garystrasse 5, D-1000 Berlin 33, Germany.
Merker
H J
HJ