This Article Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hasspieler, B. Articles by Adeli, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hasspieler, B. Articles by Adeli, K. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Toxicological assessment of industrial solvents using human cell bioassays: assessment of short-term cytotoxicity and long-term genotoxicity potential

EnviroMed Laboratories, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Douglas Haffner

EnviroMed Laboratories, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, Windoor, Ontario, Canada

Mark Stelljes

SLR International Corp., Martinez, CA, USA

Khosrow Adeli

EnviroMed Laboratories, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Division of Clinical Biochemistry, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, k.adeli{at}utoronto.ca

There is an increasing demand for simple toxicological screening methods to assess the human health risk associated with exposure to environmental toxicants. Such screening tools should allow for risk evaluation in terms of both short-term/acute toxicity and longer-term genetic damage, which may lead to mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. We employed a battery of human cell bioassays using the human hepatoma cell-line, HepG2, to assess the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of environmental pollutants. Here, we demonstrate direct application of these human cell bioassays to the toxicological assessment of a number of industrial solvents that are in common use worldwide. HepG2 cells were exposed to various solvents at concentrations ranging from 25 to 500 ppm. The cells were then analysed using specific protocols for four different adverse effects: cell death/acute cytotoxicity using a neutral red uptake assay, altered enzyme function (often an indicator of cell stress) using the ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) bioassay, DNA single strand breaks (SSB), and DNA repair induction, which evaluates mutagenic activity. Using the positive controls, linear dose-response curves were achieved for all four bioassays. The high sensitivity of the tests allowed for environmentally meaningful assessments, and precision studies showed excellent reproducibility for all four bioassays. Comparing the results of the four bioassays on each of 16 industrial solvents allowed for ranking of the anticipated relative human toxicity of these solvents, which were comparable with data from standard toxicity tests and human occupational data. Overall, the study clearly supports the application of the HepG2 cell bioassay system for rapid toxicological screening of many candidate toxicants for both short- and long-term toxicity potential.

Key Words: bioassay • solvents • cytotoxicity • genotoxicity

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?