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Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033 [L. M. B., D. E. R., S. R. R.], and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262 [A. M. M.]
| ABSTRACT |
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| Introduction |
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Because the promotion phase of carcinogenesis involves cellular proliferation and clonal expansion of initiated cells, we reasoned that the hyperplastic growth response after PNX could also promote lung tumor formation in carcinogen-treated mice and perhaps mimic chemical tumor promoters that cause lung injury. One such promoter, BHT, is an antioxidant used commercially as a food additive. In mice, BHT exposure elicits acute lung injury characterized by alveolar type I epithelial cell death, pulmonary edema, and macrophage infiltration (4 , 5) . Subsequently, compensatory hyperplastic cell growth ensues in which alveolar type II epithelial cells divide and differentiate into type I cells (4) . Within 1 week after BHT exposure, the injury is repaired, and lung histology is normal (5) .
Although BHT itself is not genotoxic or carcinogenic (6) , it can modulate tumor formation. In mice, BHT can prevent or enhance lung tumor formation, depending on the inbred strain and age and on whether BHT administration precedes or follows carcinogen exposure (7, 8, 9) . Tumor promotion by BHT in rodents is achieved by repeated weekly administration of the agent after a single carcinogen exposure (8, 9, 10) .
The effect of PNX on pulmonary tumorigenesis was investigated by administering the carcinogen MCA either during or before compensatory lung growth. Lung tumor multiplicity in PNX mice was compared to that in mice treated with the tumor promoter BHT. The results of these experiments demonstrate that post-PNX compensatory lung growth increases lung tumor multiplicity in carcinogen-treated mice in a manner similar to acute BHT treatment.
| Materials and Methods |
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Pneumonectomy Procedure.
Mice were weighed and anesthetized with ketamine (125 mg/kg body weight) and xylazine (10 mg/kg body weight) in 0.9% NaCl solution at a dosage of 0.1 ml/20 g body weight. Animals were restrained on an inclined surgical board, and hair was trimmed away from the left side of the chest. A cutaneous incision was made from the xyphoid process to the left axilla, followed by a second incision in the intercostal space between the fourth and fifth ribs. Using a forceps, the left lung was gently lifted through the opening, the main bronchus was tied with surgical silk, and the lung was removed by cutting distal to the ligature. This procedure removes approximately 35% of total lung mass. Immediately after left PNX, the chest cavity was closed with sutures, and the surgery-induced pneumothorax was reduced by inserting a hypodermic needle through the chest wall and withdrawing air until negative pressure was achieved. The skin was closed with staples, and mice were allowed to recover on a warm thermal pack before being returned to their cages. SHAM animals underwent a thorocotomy, but the lung was not ligated or removed. Mice were sacrificed by lethal injection of sodium pentobarbital (60 mg/kg body weight) at specific intervals after surgery, and lungs were removed from mice and weighed.
Tumor Promotion Protocol.
All mice were given a single i.p. injection of MCA (10 µg/g body weight; Sigma) and subsequent i.p. injections of BHT (200 mg/kg body weight, Sigma) once a week for 1, 2, 3, or 6 weeks beginning 7 days after the initial MCA injection. Control groups were treated with MCA alone or with MCA followed by i.p. injections of corn oil vehicle (100 µl).
For experiments investigating compensatory lung growth as a tumor promoter, mice were subjected to PNX at various intervals after exposure to the carcinogen MCA. Additionally, mice were subjected to PNX at various intervals before MCA exposure. Thus, in the latter experiment, carcinogen exposure occurred at early, middle, and late stages of compensatory lung growth. In both cases, SHAM mice served as controls.
Lung Fixation.
Mice were sacrificed 16 weeks after MCA exposure by lethal i.p. injection of sodium pentobarbital (60 mg/kg body weight). Lungs were inflated in vivo with 10% neutral buffered formalin using a constant hydrostatic pressure of 25 cm H2O for 1 min. Lungs were subsequently removed from the chest cavity and submerged in formalin overnight. Fixed lungs were transferred to 95% ethanol, the lobes were separated, and nonparenchymal tissue was removed and discarded.
Quantification and Measurement of Tumors.
Samples were assigned a random number before counting to prevent bias. Tumors appearing as round, ivory-colored protrusions on the lung surface were counted using a dissecting microscope, and the diameter of each was measured using a 10-mm eyepiece micrometer with 0.1 mm increments. After tumor quantitation, lungs were embedded in paraffin, sectioned, and stained with H&E. Sections were classified as either solid or papillary adenomas using standard criteria (11
, 12)
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Statistical Analysis.
Lung tumor multiplicity was determined by dividing the sum of the lung tumors by the number of animals in each group. Tumor incidence is defined as the percentage of mice per group with at least one tumor. Statistical significance was determined using a two-tailed Students t test; values were considered to differ significantly when P < 0.05. Data represent the mean ± SE.
| Results |
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To compare effects of BHT and PNX on tumor size, lung tumor diameters were measured (Table 1)
. Tumor diameter was 0.21 ± 0.04 mm in mice treated with MCA alone; similar values were observed in mice subjected to a sham operation either before or after treatment with MCA. However, mice treated with two BHT injections had larger tumors (0.32 ± 0.02) than animals treated with MCA alone (P < 0.05). The largest tumor diameters were observed in mice treated with six BHT injections (0.38 ± 0.01) and were nearly twice the size of tumors observed in the animals given MCA only. In comparison, mice subjected to PNX either before or after treatment with MCA had mean tumor diameters of 0.35 ± 0.01 and 0.31 ± 0.01, respectively; both values were statistically larger than those in the corresponding SHAM group (P < 0.02) or in mice treated with MCA alone (P < 0.05). Lung tumor diameter in PNX mice was similar to that in mice given two BHT injections.
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| Discussion |
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Organ growth has previously been shown to stimulate tumorigenesis in carcinogen-treated animals. For example, both the initiation and promotion phases of hepatocarcinogenesis can be influenced by liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy. Male BALB/c mice subjected to partial hepatectomy followed by treatment with the carcinogen urethane (ethyl carbamate) increased their hepatoma incidence to 41% as compared with 0% in mice given urethane alone (16)
. In the present study, mice treated with MCA during the compensatory lung growth response had markedly more lung tumors than mice treated before PNX (Fig. 3)
. Partial hepatectomy has been shown to modulate tumor formation many weeks after surgery. Rats subjected to partial hepatectomy 810 weeks before N-nitrosodiethylamine exposure had a shorter latency period for tumor formation than similarly treated nonhepatectomized animals (17)
. In contrast, no significant increase in either tumor incidence or multiplicity was observed in mice subjected to PNX 2 weeks before injection with MCA (Fig. 3B)
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The dose-frequency-dependent effect of BHT injections on lung tumor multiplicity has not been demonstrated previously. In A/J mice, six weekly BHT injections after a single dose of urethane markedly increased lung tumor multiplicity (18)
. Lung tumor multiplicity rose slightly in SWR mice given one or two weekly BHT injections as compared with mice injected with the corn oil vehicle. These differences in tumor multiplicity became statistically significant only when mice were treated with at least four BHT injections (8)
, suggesting that chronic exposure to BHT was necessary to enhance lung tumor multiplicity. In the present studies, however, one BHT injection significantly increased tumor multiplicity after a single low dose of MCA in BALB mice (Fig. 1)
, suggesting that the nature of BHT effects on lung tumorigenesis can be both carcinogen and strain dependent. Tumor multiplicity in the MCA/6 BHT group was more than 2-fold higher (13.7 ± 1.9 versus 5.3 ± 1.4 tumors/mouse) than that reported previously (19)
, possibly because the present study used male instead of female animals. Susceptibility to urethane-induced tumor formation can be affected by gender, with male mice having more tumors than females (20)
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Both BHT-treated and PNX mice developed tumors that were larger than those in animals given MCA alone or those subjected to a sham operation. Larger tumors were observed in neonatal BALB/c mice exposed to urethane than in similarly treated adult mice (11) . This size difference may be attributable to factors associated with rapid developmental lung growth in neonates. Lung tumor multiplicity did not increase in neonatal mice in response to BHT treatment but did increase in adult mice (11) . Members of the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes are responsible for the metabolism of BHT to active forms (21) ; therefore, this lack of enhanced tumor multiplicity in neonatal mice may be due to reduced expression of cytochrome P450 enzymes in the younger animals (22) .
In conclusion, post-PNX compensatory lung growth in mice is a unique and novel model for studying lung tumor formation in carcinogen-treated animals. Although compensatory lung growth has been best studied in the rat, the mouse may prove to be a more powerful model because of the commercial availability of inbred and genetically altered mice. Compensatory lung growth has been reported in BALB/c mice (23) and observed in C57BL/6, A/J and CXBH mice (data not shown). BALB mice were chosen for the present studies because of their great sensitivity to modulation of carcinogenesis by nongenotoxic agents (9 , 11 , 18 , 19) . Rapid lung growth after PNX may be a valuable substitute for traditional pneumotoxic tumor promoters, such as BHT, which result in lung injury after treatment. Post-PNX lung growth provides a mechanism to promote lung tumor formation without the complication of lung injury. Thus, compensatory lung growth will prove to be an important tool in further elucidating the mechanisms of initiation and promotion of lung cancer.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported by NIH Training Grant T32GM08619. ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033. ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: PNX, partial pneumonectomy; BHT, butylated hydroxytoluene; MCA, 3-methylcholanthrene; SHAM, sham-operated. ![]()
Received 6/14/99. Accepted 9/ 2/99.
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