The differential effects of cadmium exposure on the growth and survival of primary and established cells from fish and mammals

Abstract

The differential cytotoxic effects of cadmium on fish and mammalian epithelial cells in established and primary culture were assessed by looking at the reduction of the colony-forming ability and reduction in the extent of growth. The influence of medium composition on the toxicity of cadmium was also studied using serum-free and serum-containing media. The experiments using immortalized cell lines showed that mammalian cells were more sensitive than fish cells to cadmium. Both cell types were grown at the same serum concentration. However, using the normal primary system, human epithelial tissue explants showed less sensitivity to cadmium than did similar cultures from rainbow trout. It is likely that cellular mechanisms of cadmium resistance in the different cell types are responsible for these effects. As expected, cadmium proved to be more toxic when tested in serum-free medium. With fish skin primary cultures, reduction of cell numbers was observed at concentrations as low as 5 mumol/L in serum-free medium compared to 100 mumol/L in serum-containing medium. This was found to be due to the reduction in the activity of free cadmium ions, caused by the presence of serum in the medium. It is concluded that serum-free formulations are probably preferable when testing pollutants in vitro. The results highlight the importance of establishing species-specific pollution tests and standardizing variables. In summary, the results show species and culture media differences in cadmium toxicity and suggest that caution is required when extrapolating results for pollutant effects from one in vitro system to another.

Ionizing Radiation Induces a Stress Response in Primary Cultures of Rainbow Trout Skin

“…The animals were killed humanely by a qualified veterinary practitioner (ML), and the procedure was approved by the Dublin Institute of Technology ethics committee. Epithelial cell growths were initiated from the skin explants using a technique described elsewhere (3,20). Briefly, fish were aseptically dissected immediately after death.…”

“…The epidermis, which is covered with a layer of mucus that forms an additional barrier to potentially harmful substances, protects the animal against external effects (1). Unlike the gill epithelium, the impact of environmental pollutants on this tissue has received little attention, although it is metabolically very active and responds rapidly to a wide variety of stressors (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). It is an important route of entry for waterborne radioisotopes in the environment and is likely to show effects of direct contact with contaminated water containing radio-active substances due to releases from nuclear power stations.…”

“…This laboratory developed a primary culture model system of rainbow trout skin (20) and has studied the effects of various environmental agents on this in vitro model. Lyons-Alcantara et al (3,4) investigated the effects of sublethal doses of cadmium and reported growth reduction, increased apoptosis, increased glycogen deposits and melanization, and increased heat-shock protein expres-…”

Nonylphenol Provokes a Vesiculation of the Golgi Apparatus in Three Fish Epidermis Cultures

“…Fish skin explant cultures have been used especially to study cell locomotion and characteristics of the cytoskeleton (Schliwa, 1975;Bereiter-Hahn et al, 1979;Small et al, 1995;Anderson et al, 1996;Lee and Jacobson, 1997;Svitkina et al, 1997). The use of "sh skin explant cultures for toxicologic studies is far less wide-spread (Mothersill et al, 1995;Lyons-Alcantara et al, 1996Dowling and Mothersill, 1999), but is promising due to the presence of di!erentiated cells. Therefore, an explant culture was developed from "sh epidermis capable of longterm studies.…”

Analysis of cadmium in sodium hypochlorite solutions by Anodic Stripping Voltammetry test: a preliminary study

“…Cd is toxic even when the metal is present on substances and materials in very low concentrations. In addition to that, Cd has a long half-life in the human body, remaining in it from 10 to 30 years [2], and it can be deposited in the heart, spleen, testicles and pancreas [3][4][5]. Cd-contamination might lead to fetal abnormalities, alterations in the nervous system [6], cardiovascular disorders (arteriosclerosis and hypertension) [7]; and lung, kidneys and prostate neoplasias [8], as well as, it might impair the metabolism of calcium [9], resulting in osteoporosis [10,11].…”