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The cytochalasin B micronucleus test was performed in human peripheral lymphocyte cultures to assay the ability of hydroquinone and chloral hydrate to induce micronuclei, in the presence or absence of an exogenous metabolic activation system. Cultures and readings were performed in duplicate. No significant damage was found after treatment with chloral hydrate in this test system, whereas hydroquinone induced a clear positive response in one culture in the presence of metabolic activation during the G1 phase. Isolated lymphocytes used as a test system provide information about the test compound itself without interference by blood components. Comparison of the two readers' data showed few marked discrepancies in the number of micronuclei recorded in binucleated cells. Strict criteria for data analysis are therefore necessary to avoid intra-assay or operator variability.

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The in vitro micronucleus test was performed on isolated human lymphocytes using the cytokinesis-block technique with and without a rat liver metabolizing system. Positive control substances were used to evaluate this test: a direct agent (vincristine) requiring no metabolic activation, and three promutagens (cyclophosphamide, benzo[a]pyrene and dimethylbenz[a]anthracene). All of them, when compared with controls, caused a significant increase in micronucleus frequency, with a clear dose response. Five compounds were then tested in this in vitro micronucleus test: safrole, azathioprine, procarbazine, diethylstilbestrol and o-toluidine. The chemicals were examined with and without exogenous metabolic activation. Of these five compound, o-toluidine was found to be a marked direct genotoxic agent and azathioprine gave positive results with or without metabolic activation (a better response was noted without the addition of S9 mix). Diethylstilbestrol gave conflicting results and was considered inconclusive. Two chemicals, safrole and procarbazine, were found to be non-genotoxic in this test system, whatever the protocol used.

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We have investigated with light and electron microscope immunocytochemistry the aminergic and peptidergic innervation of Onuf's nucleus in adult baboons. This nucleus, located in the ventrolateral part of the sacral spinal cord (S2 and S3), is considered to control urethral and anal sphincters and penile muscles. By comparison of intact and transected spinal cords, we have found that serotoninergic innervation has two origins: first, supraspinal, innervating the whole nucleus, with a possible predominance in the dorsal half; and second, intraspinal, corresponding to the ventral half of the nucleus. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone innervation appears largely coincident with serotonin, both in intact and transected spinal cords. Noradrenaline is exclusively of supraspinal origin, as attested by its disappearance below the level of the section. Substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and Leu- and Met-enkephalin, which profusely innervate Onuf's nucleus, are on the contrary not affected by the transection. They most likely originate from the cord itself or the dorsal root ganglia. Thus, Onuf's nucleus innervation in the baboon arises both from supraspinal and intraspinal sources. The present study provides an anatomical basis for both voluntary and reflex controls of excretory and sexual functions in a primate. The same neurotransmitter (serotonin) according to its cell origin and discrete topography could exert different influences upon the same effector system.

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Five adult monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) underwent a total section of the spinal cord at the thoracic level (T6). Four of them received a daily treatment with cyclosporin (10 mg/kg). Ten days later, two animals treated with cyclosporin and one without cyclosporin received at T8 and T10 levels an injection of a cell suspension prepared from the rhombencephalon of a 40-day-old macaque embryo. Two control animals received one injection of Hank's balanced salt solution. The animals were sacrificed after 2 months (one grafted and one control) and 3 months (two grafted and one control), and their spinal cord was processed for the immunocytochemical detection of serotonin using light and electron microscopy. After 2 months of survival, serotonergic neurons had survived and developed within the transplant. Three months after transplantation, in the animal treated with cyclosporin, serotonergic neurons were found to survive with their axons growing into the host grey matter and establishing axosomatic and axodendritic synapses in the ventral horn. If the graft was isolated in the white matter no fibers were seen invading the grey matter.

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A multicentre validation study of the acute in vitro cytotoxicity of drugs involving six French laboratories from INSERM or pharmaceutical companies has been carried out. Thirty liquid or solid chemicals such as antibiotics, anticancer drugs and solvents were selected and incubated for 20 hr with normal rat hepatocytes and FaO hepatoma cells. Miniaturized and automated methods were defined for the evaluation of cytotoxic effects. Four endpoints were evaluated: the ratio of extracellular lactate dehydrogenase to total lactate dehydrogenase, total cellular protein content, reduction of a tetrazolium salt, and neutral red uptake. For each test IC(50) values were calculated. A good interlaboratory reproducibility was demonstrated. The neutral red assay was found to be the most sensitive and the least reproducible endpoint. More compounds were shown to be cytotoxic to hepatocytes than to hepatoma cells (18 v. 12). On the basis of the IC(50) values a few compounds were found to be much less cytotoxic than predicted from in vivo data, suggesting that a simple experimental protocol and non-specific cytotoxicity parameters are not sufficient to test certain drug families. However, such methods appear to provide a useful means of defining the concentration range of the drug that will be selected for further analysis using more specific tests.

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Primary cultures of rat and human hepatocytes were used in our in vitro studies for investigating species differences in the response to a peroxisome proliferating benzofuran derivative, benzbromarone. Cyanide-insensitive palmitoyl coenzyme A oxidation (a marker of peroxisome fatty acid beta-oxidation) and electron microscopy were used to assess peroxisome proliferation. Hepatocytes were cultured essentially as described by Mitchell et al. (1984, Arch. Toxicol. 55, 239-246); clofibric acid and mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) were used as reference compounds, as they are well known to cause peroxisome proliferation in rat hepatocytes in primary culture. The benzofuran derivative, tested at drug concentrations ranging from 2.37 to 59.20 microM in rat hepatocyte primary cultures, induced, after 96 hr, a dose-related increase of the peroxisomal beta-oxidase activity correlated with an increased number of peroxisomes; this increase was much less marked than that obtained with clofibric acid or MEHP. By contrast, using the same range of concentrations, human hepatocytes in primary culture treated with benzbromarone revealed no enhancement of enzymatic activity and no concomitant statistically significant increase in the number of peroxisomes; the same observations were reported with clofibric acid and MEHP. These results demonstrate clearly that species differences in sensitivity to peroxisome proliferation with the benzofuran derivative do exist.

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Primates are more and more frequently used in the evaluation of the safety aspects of drugs. Because of their similar phylogenic profile, these animals appear to be more predictive than other species (rat, mouse, rabbit or dog) used in toxicological studies. This relationship is confirmed by anatomical, metabolic and physiological observations. Primates are rarely used in teratogenesis studies, because the methods and materials involved are too complex. However, even in these studies, primates appear to be the most predictive species.

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Three adult monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) underwent a total section of the spinal cord at thoracic level (T6). 1 week later, two of them received at T8 level an injection of a cellular suspension prepared from the raphe region of a foetal macaque 39 days old. The third animal received one injection of buffer solution. 1 month later, the animals were sacrificed, and their spinal cord was processed for the immunocytochemical detection of serotonin with light and electron microscopy. Serotonergic neurons had survived after transplantation, and had grown axons and dendrites. Afferent and efferent synapses to serotonergic neurons were readily identified.

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Amiodarone (A), an unique antiarrhythmic agent and amphiphilic drug, induces at sublethal doses dyslipidic storage in animals. The present work demonstrates a distinct intestinal pathology or "Malabsorption Syndrome" in the dog induced by A. Signs of intestinal pathology were observed in all animals receiving 100 mg/kg, but not in those receiving less than 50 mg/kg, after one month. The malabsorption syndrome was demonstrated by a dynamic study of lipid absorption and pathological lesions (partial villous atrophy and the accumulation of macrophages with dyslipidic inclusions.

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Numerous amphiphilic cationic drugs cause lipid-lysosomal storage in animal tissues; one of these drugs is amiodarone, a major antiarrhythmic agent. The toxicological effects of amiodarone were studied in three animal species (rats, dogs, and monkeys). It was shown that sublethal dose levels of amiodarone induced lipid storage in a great variety of tissues in rats (Fischer and Sprague-Dawley strains) and dogs. However, this change was not observed in baboons and Wistar rats. This storage, essentially characterized by lamellated inclusions, affected foamy macrophages, and at a later phase multiple cell types. Tissue biochemical analysis provided evidence of the phospholipidic nature of the storage. In addition, amiodarone induced an increased cholesterolemia and marked modifications of the lipoproteinogram. The kinetics of lipid storage was demonstrated following oral administration of amiodarone. After jejunal absorption, lipid storage occurred in the mesenteric lymph nodes followed by widespread deposition in the other lymph nodes and tissues, particularly in the lung. A complete recovery from lipid storage as observed in dogs and rats. Finally, an investigation of a correlation between animal and man by means of long-term experiments is proposed.

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Six benzodiazepine tranquilizers were tested in limited in vivo bioassays for their ability to initiate or promote the development of preneoplastic and neoplastic rat liver lesions. The benzodiazepine produced no liver altered hepatocellular foci during a 14-week period of administration whereas a large number were produced by the liver carcinogen, N-2-fluorenylacetamide. To assay for promoting activity and confirm the lack of initiating activity, N-2-fluorenylacetamide was used to produce altered foci and early neoplastic nodules in rat liver by 8 weeks of dietary administration and the benzodiazepines were then administered for 12 weeks. The liver neoplasm promoter phenobarbital had a substantial enhancing effect upon the persistence of early lesions but none of the benzodiazepines showed a similar effect. Thus in these limited bioassays monitored by histopathology, the benzodiazepine tranquilizers failed to exhibit either an initiating or a promoting action. In these studies, the liver and plasma enzymes, glutamate-pyruvate transaminase, glutamate-oxalacetic transaminase, lactic dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatases, and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase were monitored to determine if any alterations correlated with liver pathological changes. gamma-Glutamyltranspeptidase activity in both liver and plasma was markedly increased during initiation by N-2-fluorenylacetamide. Following cessation of carcinogen exposure, gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase remained elevated, providing an indication of past initiation. Administration of phenobarbital after N-2-fluorenylacetamide resulted in an elevation of liver and plasma gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, but none of the benzodiazepines produced this effect and thus no biochemical evidence of a promoting effect on the liver was observed. Correlations between liver and plasma gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and the occurrence of foci were excellent, indicating that determination of plasma activity can be used as an index of the process of hepatocarcinogenesis.

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Four benzodiazepine tranquillizers were tested for their ability to initiate or promote the development of preneoplastic and neoplastic rat liver lesions. In comparison with the liver carcinogen, N-2-fluorenylacetamide, the benzodiazepines exhibited no initiating activity during a 14-week period of daily administration by gavage. To study the promoting activity, N-2-fluorenylacetamide was used to initiate altered foci and neoplastic nodules in rat liver during 8 weeks and then the benzodiazepines were administered by daily gavage for a period of 12 weeks. The liver tumor promoter phenobarbital had a substantial enhancing effect upon the persistence of nodules but none of the benzodiazepines showed a similar effect. Thus, in the process model systems used, to detect initiating or promoting potential effect, the benzodiazepine tranquillizers failed to exhibit either an initiating or a promoting action.

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