BackgroundExposure to fine and ultra-fine ambient particles is still a problem of concern in many industrialised parts of the world and the intensified use of nanotechnology may further increase exposure to small particles. Complex in vitro coculture systems may be valuable tools to study particle-induced processes and to extrapolate effects of particles on the lung. A system consisting of four different human cell lines which mimics the cell response of the alveolar surface in vitro was developed to study native aerosol exposure (Vitrocell™ chamber). The system is composed of an alveolar type-II cell line (A549), differentiated macrophage-like cells (THP-1), mast cells (HMC-1) and endothelial cells (EA.hy 926), seeded in a 3D-orientation on a microporous membrane.ResultsThe spatial distribution of the cells in the tetraculture was analysed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), showing a confluent layer of endothelial and epithelial cells on both sides of the transwell. Macrophage-like cells and mast cells can be found on top of the epithelial cells. The cells formed colonies under submerged conditions, which disappeared at the ALI. To evaluate the response to oxidative stress, the dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay was used together with 2,2’-azobis-2-methyl-propanimidamide-dihydrochloride (AAPH) as inducer of oxidative stress. The tetraculture showed less induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production after being treated with a positive control compared to the monocultures of EA.hy 926, THP-1 and HMC-1. Submerged cultures showed elevated ROS and IL-8 levels compared to ALI cultures. The Vitrocell™ aerosol exposure system was not significantly influencing the viability. Using this system, cells were exposed to an aerosol of 50 nm SiO2-Rhodamine NPs in PBS. The distribution of the NPs in the tetraculture after exposure was evaluated by CLSM. Fluorescence from internalized particles was detected in CD11b-positive THP-1 cells only.ConclusionThe system can be used in conjunction with a native aerosol exposure system and may finally lead to a more realistic judgement regarding the hazard of new compounds and/or new nano-scaled materials in the future. The results for the ROS production and IL-8 secretion suggest that submerged exposure may lead to an overestimation of observed effects.

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Metabolomics, the study of all the small molecules in and outside a cell and fluxomics, comprising all conversion rates in a cell, are increasingly used in fundamental and applied sciences to unravel structures and activities of cellular networks and their regulation, to investigate mechanisms of diseases and toxicity, and to improve producing strains among other applications. For both fluxomics and metabolomics the application of isotopes became almost indispensable. Their use in these techniques is discussed, focusing primarily on studies applying stable isotopes and using mass spectrometry. This includes the underlying principles, experimental and computational methods used, and examples of application. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2012 doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1167This article is categorized under: Analytical and Computational Methods > Analytical Methods Models of Systems Properties and Processes > Cellular Models Laboratory Methods and Technologies > Metabolomics

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BackgroundDuring the last 250 years, the level of exposure to combustion-derived particles raised dramatically in western countries, leading to increased particle loads in the ambient air. Among the environmental particles, diesel exhaust particulate matter (DEPM) plays a special role because of its omnipresence and reported effects on human health. During recent years, a possible link between air pollution and the progression of atherosclerosis is recognized. A central effect of DEPM is their impact on the endothelium, especially of the alveolar barrier. In the present study, a complex 3D tetraculture model of the alveolar barrier was used in a dose-controlled exposure scenario with realistic doses of DEPM to study the response of endothelial cells.ResultsTetracultures were exposed to different doses of DEPM (SRM2975) at the air-liquid-interface. DEPM exposure did not lead to the mRNA expression of relevant markers for endothelial inflammation such as ICAM-1 or E-selectin. In addition, we observed neither a significant change in the expression levels of the genes relevant for antioxidant defense, such as HMOX1 or SOD1, nor the release of pro-inflammatory second messengers, such as IL-6 or IL-8. However, DEPM exposure led to strong nuclear translocation of the transcription factor Nrf2 and significantly altered expression of CYP1A1 mRNA in the endothelial cells of the tetraculture.ConclusionIn the present study, we demonstrated the use of a complex 3D tetraculture system together with a state-of-the-art aerosol exposure equipment to study the effects of in vivo relevant doses of DEPM on endothelial cells in vitro. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first that focuses on indirect effects of DEPM on endothelial cells of the alveolar barrier in vitro. Exposure to DEPM led to significant activation and nuclear translocation of the transcription factor Nrf2 in endothelial cells. The considerably low doses of DEPM had a low but measurable effect, which is in line with recent data from in vivo studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12989-017-0186-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Chronic repeated-dose toxicity studies are still carried out on animals and often do not correlate with the effects in human beings mainly due to species-specific differences in biotransformation. The human hepatoma cell line HepaRG has been used for human relevant toxicity assessment. However, HepaRG cells are commonly maintained in serum containing medium which limits their use in 'omics'-based toxicology. In this study, we compared the maintenance of HepaRG cells in standard serum-supplemented and serum-free conditions. Viability and Cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity during long-term cultivation were assessed. Liver-specific albumin and urea production was measured. The extracellular metabolome (amino acids, glucose, lactate and pyruvate) was measured to compare different cultivation conditions using metabolic flux analysis. Although metabolic flux analysis reveals differences in certain parts of the metabolism, e.g. production of urea, the overall metabolism of serum-free and serum-supplemented cultured HepaRG cells is similar. We conclude that HepaRG cells can be maintained in optimized serum-free conditions for 30 days without viability change and with high CYP activity. We also tested the acute (24 h) and long-term repeated-dose (7 doses, every second day) toxicity of valproic acid. We calculated an EC50 value of 1.4 mM after repeated exposure which is close to the cmax value for valproic acid. Maintenance of HepaRG cells in serum-free conditions opens up the opportunity for the use of these cells in human long-term repeated-dose hepatotoxicity studies and for application in systems toxicology.

We developed a coculture model of the lung–blood barrier using human bronchial epithelial cells(16HBE14o-), monocytes (THP-1) and human lung microvascular endothelial cells (HLMVEC) in which several parameters can be assessed simultaneously. The epithelial and endothelial cells were grown on opposite sides of a microporous membrane. Electron and confocal microscopic pictures show the presence of the cells in their appropriate compartment and both cell types do not show evidence of growing through the pores. Out of three endothelial cell types (EAhy.926, HUVEC and HLMVEC), the last was chosen as the most appropriate cell type, best resembling the pulmonary endothelium and allowing the expression of functional tight junctions in the 16HBE14o- monolayer with sufficiently high transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) values. Finally, monocytes were added to the apical compartment. PMA-activated macrophages significantly affected barrier integrity (73% TEER reduction compared to control after 24 h) and disrupted the epithelial tight junctions as shown by redistribution of ZO-1 labeling. Alternatively, monocytes could be activated using lipopolysaccharide, at a sub-toxic level int he apical compartment and only induced a small, though significant, reduction in TEER.This coculture system is a representative model of the lung–blood barrier with barrier integrity as the main toxicity endpoint.

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