Morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells induced by mineral fibres and the alleged enhancement of benzo[a]pyrene

Svein-Ole Mikalsen, Edgar Rivedal, Tore Sanner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The ability of different mineral fibres to induce morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells has been studied. Increased transformation frequencies were obtained in the presence of chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophylllte and the glass fibres(GF) 100, while no significant increase in transformation frequency was observed with GF110 and TiO2. Chrysotile was the most potent of the fibres tested. GF100 was more potent than crocidolite, amosite and anthophyllite. By comparing transformation frequency and toxicity, it could be concluded that induction of transformation is not caused by unspecific cytotoxic effects. In contrast to some earlier studies, no synergistic effect was observed between benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and asbestos fibres. Adsorption of BaP to crocidolite fibres had no effect on the transformation frequency. Moreover, crocidolite was not able to promote the transformation of cells pre-exposed to BaP. Electron microscopy studies showed that the fibres were rapidly phagocytosed. Blebs were often formed on the cell surface and were most pronounced after crocidolite exposure. The blebs did not seem to be associated with the areas of physical interaction between the cells and the fibres, but were distributed throughout the cell surface.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)891-899
Number of pages18
JournalCarcinogenesis
Volume9
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1988
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Asbestos
  • Glass fibres
  • PAH
  • benzo[a]pyrene
  • Cell cultures
  • In vitro assays

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