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An electron microscopic, immunocytochemical, and enzyme cytochemical analysis of the previously established oval cell lines OC/CDE 6 and OC/CDE 22 was performed to characterize the phenotype and differentiation patterns of long-term cultures of oval cells. It was found that alpha-fetoprotein, albumin, and cytokeratin 19 are present in all cultured cells. This indicates that oval cells constitute a population of immature cells expressing features of the antigenic phenotype of both the hepatocyte and bile ductular cell lineages. An electron microscopic examination revealed a gradual alteration in the ultrastructure of oval cells toward hepatocyte-like cells. The majority of the oval cells were positive for glucose-6-phosphatase activity. A particularly striking observation was that oval cells were heterogeneous in terms of peroxisome content. Only about 50% of the oval cells had peroxisomes in the cytoplasm, these cells probably being part of the hepatocyte lineage. The other cultured cells did not reveal catalase activity and probably represented cells committed to the bile ductular cell lineage. An addition of clofibrate to the culture medium resulted in a marked peroxisome proliferation in all oval cells, indicating that oval cells might be able to change their differentiation pathway depending on environmental influence toward the hepatocyte lineage. It is most intriguing that in oval cells with abundant cytoplasm peroxisome proliferation was accompanied by proliferation of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (this is a morphological marker of mature hepatocytes). Taken together, our findings suggest that within the oval cell lines OC/CDE 6 and OC/CDE 22 cells undergoing a morphological and functional differentiation along the hepatocyte and bile ductular cell lineages are present.

The hypothesis that liver carcinogenesis may have as an important facet the early selection of carcinogen-resistant cells was tested in animals in which putative premalignant hepatocyte populations, hyperplastic nodules, were induced by 2-acetylaminofluorene or by ethionine. Hyperplastic nodules were observed to be resistant to the acute necrogenic effects of 2 hepatotoxins, CCl4 and dimethylnitrosamine, under conditions in which liver cell necrosis occurred in the liver surrounding the nodules. In addition, although [methyl-3H]dimethylnitrosamine was taken up to an equal degree in nodules and normal liver, the interactions with DNA, RNA, and protein in hyperplastic nodules were found to be about 50% less than in control liver. Hyperplastic nodules showed a marked decrease in uptake of [9-14C]-2-acetylaminofluorene, a finding that could account for the large decrease in labeling of DNA, RNA, and protein by [9-14C]-2acetylaminofluorene observed in the nodules. The results are consistent with and support the hypothesis that new hepatocyte populations that appear prior to cancer, during liver carcinogenesis, have as an important biological property a resistance to the cytotoxic effect of hepatocarcinogens. The basis for this resistance might be a decrease in uptake and/or a reduction in the level of activation of carcinogens.

The methionine analog, L-ethionine, induces morphological and biochemical changes in cultured HL-60 cells which are indicative of myeloid maturation. After 3 to 5 days of growth in the presence of L-ethionine, the majority of cells have enhanced phagocytic ability. The percentage of cells in the culture which bear complement receptors and which can respond to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate with respiratory burst activity increases more than 3-fold. Since the cells fail to become adherent and lose nonspecific esterase activity, we conclude that L-ethionine, like dimethyl sulfoxide, induces granulocytic differentiation of HL-60 cells.

The activity of poly(adenosine diphosphoribose) polymerase was measured in isolated rat pancreatic nuclei and was found to increase during pancreatic nuclei which follows an ethionine treatment, although a possible relationship of enzyme activity to the initial degenerative phase may also be considered. There is a 2-fold increase in the enzyme activity during the destruction process which remains high during the regeneration period. This increase of activity observed during regeneration is not related to a decrease of the polymer degradation. We have studied the adenosine diphosphate ribosylation of proteins during pancreatic regeneration, and we have found increases in the level of adenosine diphosphate ribosylations of these proteins just before regeneration and during the regeneration period. The in vivo adenosine diphosphate ribosylation of nuclear proteins does not correlate with synthetase activity measured in nuclei during the degeneration period but does correlate during the regeneration period and thereafter with the relative amount of enzymatic activity found in nuclei. Furthermore, as verified by autoradiography, labeling of the nuclei by polyadenosine diphosphoribose polymer shows a marked increase during regeneration.

The tRNA methyltransferases from normal rat liver and Novikoff hepatoma have been compared with respect to their base specificity, capacity to methylate, and reaction kinetics, using mixed Escherichia coli B transfer RNA (tRNA) and ethionine-induced partially methyl-deficient rat liver tRNA. The pattern of base methylation of the two substrates is different with the use of enzymes from either source. In particular, N1-methylguanine methylation is much greater in the methyl-deficient rat liver tRNA. The enzymes from the two sources also show differences in specificity of base methylation in either substrate, particularly in the percentage of N2-methylguanine synthesized. The Novikoff hepatoma enzymes have a greater capacity for methylation with either type of tRNA than do rat liver enzymes. The methyl-deficient rat liver tRNA is a poorer substrate for the enzymes from both sources than is E. coli B tRNA in terms of rate of methylation as well as total acceptance of methyl groups. The affinity constants are somewhat higher for the methyl-deficient rat liver tRNA than for E. coli B tRNA. The Novikoff hepatoma enzymes, in general, have larger affinity constants than the rat liver enzymes. Maximal velocities for the various base-specific enzymes are lower with the methyl-deficient rat liver tRNA, with the exception of the 1-methylguanine specific enzymes. These enzymes from either rat liver or Novikoff hepatoma exhibit approximately a 2.5-fold greater maximal velocity with methyl-deficient rat liver tRNA.

The possible role of alterations of histone methylation by ethionine in the mechanism of ethionine carcinogenesis was studied. In regenerating rat liver, histone synthesis was inhibited by only 20 to 30% with large doses of ethionine (0.75 to 1.0 mg/g body weight). The effect of ethionine on the in vivo methylation of histones was studied by giving 0.5 mg ethionine and [methyl-3H]methionine per g body weight. In vivo methylation of lysine was inhibited by 50%, whereas the arginine methylation was inhibited by 89%. The cellular localization of the methyltransferases and S-adenosyl-L-ethionine may be related to this differential effect. Utilizing an in vitro assay for protein-lysine and protein-arginine methyltransferases, we have demonstrated that the methyl-deficient histones are transported to the nucleus and with time lose their ability to accept methyl groups in vitro.

Methyl-deficient transfer RNA (tRNA) and subnormal levels of tRNA-methylating enzymes were found in the livers of female rats that had received injections of 250 mg DL-ethionine per kg body weight per day and 120 mg adenine per kg body weight per day for 2 days. Adenine alone had no effect. When the ethionine plus adenine injections were continued for longer periods of time, liver tRNA-methylating enzyme activity measured in vitro gradually increased and exceeded that of the controls. Concurrently, the relative methyl deficiency of liver tRNA decreased. The latter was evident because of the decreased ability of the tRNA to accept methyl groups during in vitro methylation catalyzed by homologous enzymes. Liver tRNA from animals that were treated with ethionine for 7 days could accept only about 40% as many methyl groups as could tRNA from animals that had received ethionine for only 2 days. No further significant change in methyl deficiency of the tRNA was seen when ethionine administration was extended to a total of 14 days. Enzyme preparations from ethionine-treated, but not control, rat livers contained dialyzable substances that inhibited the tRNA methylases and altered the base specificity of these enzymes. Although S-adenosylhomocysteine and S-adenosylethionine were found to be present in the liver preparations, neither of these substances could account for the observed changes in specificity.

In Escherichia coli, DNA damage by carcinogenic agents results in the coordinate expression of a diversity of functions (SOS functions), many of which are thermally inducible without any damage to DNA in a tif-1 mutant. These include prophage induction, filamentous growth, and an error-prone DNA repair activity, which is responsible for ultraviolet-induced mutagenesis. Ethionine causes hepatic carcinoma in rats after prolonged feeding but is not a mutagen in the Ames test. The present study shows that 10 mM ethionine prevents the thermal induction of lambda-prophage in a tif-1 derivative of E. coli. The enhancement of mutation, which normally occurs at high temperature after a low dose of ultraviolet light, is also blocked by ethionine. Ethionine does not block, to any appreciable extent, the incorporation of radioactive precursors into RNA, DNA, or protein.

We have confirmed the finding by Rajalakshmi that transfer RNA (tRNA) from livers of ethionine-treated rats can act as a substrate for homologous tRNA-methylating enzymes in vitro. This methyl-deficient tRNA from liver can be methylated in vitro by enzymes from normal or ethionine-treated rats. The in vitro inhibition of tRNA methylation that follows ethionine treatment can be at least partially relieved in vitro. The liver extracts from ethionine-treated animals contained a low-molecular-weight inhibitor of tRNA methylation. Dialysis of enzyme preparations from ethionine-treated, but not control, rats resulted in large increases in tRNA methylase activity, with either Escherichia coli or homologous tRNA's as substrate. Furthermore, the tRNA methylase activity of control rat liver enzyme extracts was greatly depressed by dialysate from liver homogenates of ethionine-treated rats. After 5 days of ethionine administration the liver tRNA methylase activities were significantly higher than those of control preparations despite the continued presence of the dialyzable inhibitor(s). The liver tRNA's from these animals were poorer methyl acceptors than those from 3-day-treated rats, although still better than tRNA's from untreated rats. These observations have been interpreted to indicate that ethionine causes the accumulation in the liver of inhibitors of tRNA methylation. Early in the course of ethionine administration, methyl-deficient tRNA can be isolated. When the period of ethionine treatment is extended, the organism attempts to maintain homeostasis by production of increased amounts of tRNA-methylating enzymes. The increased quantities of these enzymes are able to overcome, at least partially, the effects of the inhibitors and to decrease the extent to which methyl-deficient tRNA is produced.

Ethionine, a liver carcinogen, was administered p.o. (300 mg/kg) to rats 17 hr after partial hepatectomy. At 6 hr after administration of the ethionine, hepatic S-adenosylethionine levels were 30- to 40-fold greater than the hepatic level of S-adenosylmethionine. A 10-fold ratio of S-adenosylethionine to S-adenosylmethionine still persited at 24 hr after ethionine administration. When given at 17 hr after partial hepatectomy, ethionine produced a 30% inhibition of DNA synthesis, measured by the incorporation of [methyl-3H]thymidine at 23 to 24 hr after partial hepatectomy (6 to 7 hr after ethionine administration). DNA synthesized during this interval was methyl deficient as judged by the reduced incorporation of radioactivity from L-[methyl-3H]methionine into 5-methylcytosine residues of DNA. In an assay for DNA methylation in vitro using whole nuclei, the methyl-deficient DNA was methylated by S-adenosylmethionine 8 times more than was control DNA; the DNA methylation was competitively inhibited by S-adenosylethionine. These data suggest that S-adenosylethionine, formed in vivo from ethionine, competitively inhibits the methylation of DNA in vivo by S-adenosylmethionine, resulting in the production of methyl-deficient DNA.

One of the earliest events following the administration of estradiol to ovariectomized rats is an increase in transfer RNA (tRNA) methyltransferase activity activity of the uterus. Ovariectomy diminishes by about one-half the capacity of extracts of uteri to introduce methyl groups in vitro into heterologous tRNA. Administration of estradiol to ovariectomized animals restores the tRNA methyltransferase capacity to normal. Alterations in the population of uterine serine tRNA were also observed following ovariectomy. These findings represent reversible qualitative changes produced by a hormone in the target tissue. Whether the tRNA's are involved in regulating hormone-induced protein synthesis was investigated by studying the estrogen-induced ovalbumin synthesis in immature chick oviducts. tRNA's from oviducts of estrogen-stimulated chicks or from oviducts of laying hens produced an enhanced stimulation of ovalbumin synthesis in vitro compared with tRNA's from oviducts of immature chicks that were withdrawn from estrogen stimulation (these chicks do not synthesize ovalbumin). Some of these hormone-induced alterations may be of importance in understanding the molecular mechanisms of estrogen action on gene expression. During these studies, we have observed a novel effect of the administration of the carcinogen, ethionine, in the immature chicks. Ethionine induces ovalbumin and conalbumin synthesis in immature chick oviducts that were withdrawn from estrogen for 3 to 4 weeks following primary estrogen stimulation.

This paper analyzes the extent of enzymatic methylation of DNA in P815 cells cultured for several cell cycles in the presence of 1 mM L-ethionine by use of the bacterial restriction enzymes HpaII, MspI, HhaI, HaeII, and AvaI. The results obtained suggest that the extent of methylation of DNA is decreased during L-ethionine treatment and that the degree of this inhibition varies among different methylation sites. The nucleotide sequence complexity of nuclear RNA in P815 cells was analyzed by excess hybridization with tracer amounts of nick-translated nonrepetitive P815 [3H]DNA sequences. About 6.2% of the nonrepetitive sequences form hybrids with nuclear RNA of controls cells, whereas 8.8% are complementary to nuclear RNA from L-ethionine-treated cells. Thus, the decrease in enzymatic DNA methylation correlates with the presence of new transcriptional products suggesting that this modification process inversely correlates with the initiation of transcription.

The addition of cupric acetate, a potent inhibitor of ethionine carcinogenesis, to a diet containing ethionine increased the ethionine toxicity. The concentration of S-adenosylethionine in liver was found to be significantly higher when compared to animals fed only ethionine in the diet. Ethionine forms a complex(es) with cupric acetate that is insoluble at a pH higher than 4; however, this complex can be solubilized at a low pH. Ethionine, if administered p.o. in the form of this complex, was absorbed from the intestinal lumen in the same order of magnitude as when administered alone; however, as the body weight increased over 200 g, the portion of absorbed ethionine decreased. The absorption of ethionine bound in the complex was completed within 16 hr compared to 2 hr for free ethionine. This time delay was accompanied by a shift in the concentration maximum of ethionine metabolities in the liver form 8 to 24 hr. When ethionine was administered alone, it was metabolized in the intestinal lumen as demonstrated by the analysis of the soluble intestinal contents; the presence of cupric acetate inhibited this process. The chromatographic analysis of ethionine metabolites in urine of rats treated by the complex revealed an increased excretion of ethionine sulfoxide and other ethionine metabolities at the expense of N-acetylethionine sulfoxide. The increased concentration of S-adenosylethionine in the liver in chronic experiments may be, at least partly, a result of a diminished capacity of the rat to detoxify (acetylate) ethionine sulfoxide, which is considered the main reserve pool of ethionine for the maintenance of a high level of S-adenosylethionine.