Studies on porphyrin-heme biosynthesis in organotypic cultures of chick dorsal root ganglia. II. The effect of lead

Journal Article · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979 · Environ. Res.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5642953

Sassa, S ^[1]; Whetsell, Jr, W O; Kappas, A

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1. Rockefeller Univ. Hospital, New York, NY

Organotypic cultures of chick dorsal root ganglia retain the morphology and the metabolism of intact nervous tissues which are observed in vivo. Such cultures are capable of synthesizing porphyrins from a precursor, delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). The present study was undertaken to estimate the capacity of these cultures to form porphyrins from ALA and to study the effect of lead on porphyrin formation. Control cultures which were not incubated with ALA did not show detectable amounts of porphyrins. On the other hand, cultures incubated with ALA synthesized porphyrins linearly as a function of ALA concentration up to 2 mM as well as a function of incubation period for up to 24 h. The major porphyrin synthesized by the cultures was uroporphyrin as demonstrated by its characteristic fluorescence emission spectrum and by its migration on thin-layer chromatographic plates. Porphyrin formation was inhibited 50% after treatment with lead at 10 ..mu..m; this was accompanied by a shift toward the formation of coproporphyrin and protoporphyrin. These results indicate that isolated chick dorsal root ganglion cultures are able to synthesize a full spectrum of porphyrins from ALA and that an inhibitory effect of lead on porphyrin formation can be demonstrated in such cultures. These data suggest the usefulness of organotypic cultures of chick dorsal root ganglia for the study of the effects of environmental chemicals on porphyrin-heme biosynthesis in isolated nervous tissues.

• OSTI ID: 5642953
• Journal Information: Environ. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: Environ. Res.; (United States) Vol. 19:2; ISSN ENVRA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550200 -- Biochemistry
560305* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Vertebrates-- (-1987)
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AMINO ACIDS
AMINOLEVULINIC ACID
ANIMALS
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOSYNTHESIS
BIRDS
BODY
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHICKENS
DATA
DATA FORMS
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOWL
GANGLIONS
HETEROCYCLIC ACIDS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
IN VIVO
INCUBATION
INFORMATION
ISOLATED VALUES
KINETICS
LEAD
METALS
NERVE TISSUE
NERVOUS SYSTEM
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PORPHYRINS
PRECURSOR
REACTION KINETICS
SYNTHESIS
TISSUE CULTURES
TISSUES
TOXICITY
VERTEBRATES