Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:6.5.1.2 (DNA ligase)
 2,749 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Chronic exposure to dimethylnitrosamine produces hepatic tumors through recurrent DNA alkylation, whereas acute exposure can cause liver necrosis through mechanisms that remain largely unknown. Our laboratory recently demonstrated that DNA fragmentation occurs early on and may be a causal event in dimethylnitrosamine-induced necrosis in liver. A challenge to interpreting these results is that up to 30% of liver cells are non-parenchymal and could account for the observed DNA fragmentation. In the present study, we have examined whether dimethylnitrosamine induces early genomic DNA fragmentation in cultured mouse hepatocytes. Hepatic parenchymal cells isolated from male ICR mice were cultured in Williams E medium. DNA damage was assessed quantitatively as a fragmented fraction that was not sedimented at 27,000 x g, and qualitatively from agarose gel electrophoresis. Cellular response to DNA damage was assessed by measuring induction of the DNA repair enzyme DNA ligase. Toxic cell death was estimated from release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) or adenine nucleotides from cells prelabeled with [3H]adenine. Dimethylnitrosamine produced a twofold increase in [3H]adenine release by 6 h and LDH release at 36 h. DNA fragmentation and DNA ligase activity increased by as early as 1 h. The Ca(2+)-endonuclease inhibitor aurintricarboxylic acid and the Ca2+ chelator ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) prevented DNA fragmentation through 6 h and virtually abolished cytotoxicity through 30 h. DNA ligase induction was strongly associated with DNA fragmentation. Early increases in DNA fragmentation and DNA ligase were highly correlated with later toxic cell death. Such results strongly suggest that dimethylnitrosamine-induced fragmentation of DNA in target parenchymal cells is a causal factor in the toxic death of these liver cells.
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PMID:Dimethylnitrosamine-induced DNA damage and toxic cell death in cultured mouse hepatocytes. 766 92

Our working hypothesis states that DNA damage is a critical step in toxic cell death. The DNA hypothesis was tested in cultured mouse hepatocytes by examining whether inhibitors of DNA repair would increase dimethylnitrosamine toxicity and DNA damage in parallel. Inhibitors were chosen for selectivity toward DNA polymerase alpha (aphidicolin, myricetin), DNA ligase (ethidium bromide), or multiple repair enzymes (ara-C, doxorubicin). Dimethylnitrosamine caused concentration-dependent DNA damage at 6 hr and cell death at 24 hr (35% ALT release vs. 8.8% in control cultured hepatocytes). Each repair inhibitor increased dimethylnitrosamine-induced DNA damage and toxic cell death in parallel. Doxorubicin maximally elevated DNA fragmentation and toxicity (57% ALT release). Repair inhibitors alone failed to damage DNA or cause cell death in this model system. These data support the hypothesis that DNA damage is an early causal event in toxic cell death caused by alkylating hepatotoxicants.
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PMID:DNA as a critical target in toxic cell death: enhancement of dimethylnitrosamine cytotoxicity by DNA repair inhibitors. 799 86