The influence of mineral dusts on metabolic co-operation between mammalian cells in tissue culture

Our plain-English summary of The influence of mineral dusts on metabolic co-operation between mammalian cells in tissue culture, by M. Chamberlain (Carcinogenesis, 1982).

The study

• Author: M. Chamberlain
• Journal: Carcinogenesis
• Published: 1982;3(3):337-9
• Cited by: 18 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Carcinogenic UICC amosite asbestos has been tested in V79-4 cultures to determine whether it acts like a tumour promoter, such as TPA, by inhibiting metabolic co-operation. TPA inhibited metabolic co-operation at the non-toxic dose of 0.01 µg/ml but UICC amosite did not inhibit the cell to cell communication even at a toxic dose. Min-U-Sil silica and ball-milled amosite which were included as non-carcinogenic control dusts similarly did not inhibit metabolic co-operation.

PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

In plain English

This laboratory study, from the Medical Research Council Pneumoconiosis Unit in the UK, tested whether amosite asbestos acts like a tumour promoter by blocking "metabolic co-operation". Metabolic co-operation is chemical communication between cells that touch, and several tumour promoters had been reported to inhibit it. The author used Chinese hamster lung cells (V79-4) grown in culture, together with a drug-resistant line derived from them. UICC amosite was tested at 0.01 to 5.0 micrograms per ml. Ball-milled amosite and Min-U-Sil silica served as non-carcinogenic control dusts, and the tumour promoter TPA served as a positive control. TPA blocked metabolic co-operation at a non-toxic dose of 0.01 micrograms per ml. None of the three dusts allowed significantly greater recovery of the resistant cells than their controls (P greater than 0.05), so none inhibited metabolic co-operation. This held for UICC amosite even at 5 micrograms per ml, a dose that was toxic to the cells (70% survival). The author described the estimated numbers of particles per cell as minimum figures. The author wrote that the results suggest that if inorganic fibres promote the development of cancer, they do not do so by blocking metabolic co-operation.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: In vitro (cell culture) laboratory experiment
• Who was studied: V79-4 Chinese hamster lung cells and an 8-azaguanine-resistant (AGR) line derived from them, studied at the Medical Research Council Pneumoconiosis Unit, Penarth, UK (article received December 1981)
• Exposure: UICC amosite asbestos and ball-milled amosite, each at 0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 5.0 micrograms per ml; Min-U-Sil silica at 5.0, 10.0, 25.0 and 50.0 micrograms per ml; the tumour promoter TPA at 0.01 micrograms per ml as a positive control
• Main results:
  • TPA blocked metabolic co-operation at the non-toxic dose of 0.01 micrograms per ml. Table II gives a recovery of the drug-resistant cells of 91.0% with TPA, against 44.9% for its solvent (DMSO) control.
  • UICC amosite, ball-milled amosite and Min-U-Sil silica did not allow significantly greater recovery of the drug-resistant cells than their controls (Newman-Keuls test, P greater than 0.05), so they did not inhibit metabolic co-operation
  • UICC amosite also failed to inhibit metabolic co-operation at 5 micrograms per ml, a toxic dose (70% cell survival in this experiment)
  • At higher concentrations of UICC amosite, occasional "giant cells" were seen in the colonies; milled amosite and Min-U-Sil had no visible effect on cell shape
  • Estimated particles settling per cell: UICC amosite at 5 micrograms per ml, 2.15 particles including 0.27 fibres longer than 6.5 micrometres; milled amosite at 5, 108.6 particles; Min-U-Sil at 50, 23.6 particles. More than 100 milled amosite particles or 23 Min-U-Sil particles per cell did not prevent metabolic co-operation.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that metabolic co-operation between V79-4 cells was not reduced by carcinogenic amosite asbestos fibres or by large numbers of non-toxic dust particles. The author wrote that the results suggest (rather than establish) that if inorganic fibres promote carcinogenesis, they do not do so by blocking metabolic co-operation.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The particle-per-cell figures are only minimum estimates, because cells moving on the dish could meet further particles

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Carcinogenic, UICC, Amosite.

Related studies

• Effect of mineral dusts on metabolic cooperation between Chinese hamster V79 cells in vitro — M. Chamberlain (1983)
• The cytotoxic effects of asbestos and other mineral dust in tissue culture cell lines — M. Chamberlain, R.C. Brown (1978)
• Cytotoxic action of mineral dusts on CHV 79 cells in vitro: factors affecting toxicity — S.O. Lock, M. Chamberlain (1983)
• Metsovo-tremolite asbestos fibres: in vitro effects on mutation, chromosome aberration, cell transformation and intercellular communication — K. Athanasiou, S.H. Constantopoulos, et al. (1992)
• The effect of asbestos on tissue cultures; a comparative study with quartz and coal dust — T.H. Belt, I. Friedmann, et al. (1947)
• Reaction of mineral dusts with primary lung fibroblast cultures — R.J. Richards, J. Hunt (1983)

Browse more research in Carcinogenesis, or return to medical research.