Cytotoxicity of dinitrotoluenes (2,4-dNT, 2,6-DNT ) to MCF-7 and MRC-5 cells.

DNTs are considered possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) because there is inadequate evidence in humans for carcinogenicity though there is sufficient evidence in experimental animals. In this study, MCF-7 (breast) and MRC-5 (lung) cells were exposed to a serial dilution of 2,4 and 2,6 DNTs (control, 1-500 ppm) in 96 well tissue culture plates. After various time intervals (24, 48, 72 and 96 hrs) the plates were washed, and 100microl fluorescein diacetate solution (10 microg/ml in PBS) was added column wise to each well, and incubated at 37 C for 30 - 60 min before reading the fluorescence with a spectrofluorometer at excitation and emission wavelengths of 485 and 538 nm respectively.

A better method for standardizing vitellogenin content of fish tissues.

Vitellogenin (vtg) concentrations were measured in plasma and liver samples from 12 hybrid Tilapia oreochromis niloticus x O. aureus to compare concentrations in these tissues. The results were calculated under two different normalizations: volume per gram of sample used (similar to normalization usually published in the literature and typically used for ELISA) and volume per total protein (similar to normalization used in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; PAGE).