Publications by authors named "Dunsford H"

Manufactured gas plant (MGP) residues, commonly known as coal tars, were generated several decades ago as a byproduct of residential and industrial gas production from the distillation of coal. Previous short-term exposure studies have shown MGP residues to be tumorigenic in mouse liver and lung. In order to gain further insight into carcinogenesis by complex mixtures of environmental chemicals containing known carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, we investigated mouse pulmonary tumors for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) as a result of multiple exposure to MGP residues.

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Feeding of aflatoxin to ducks produces extensive oval cell proliferation in the liver associated with a prolonged elevation of serum alphafetoprotein (AFP). Short term feeding of 0.075-0.

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The present study determined tumorigenicity, tumor classification and DNA damage induced in infant mice by benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) or Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) residues after a single exposure. Male and female B6C3F1 mice were exposed to B[a]P or MGP residue from a single environmental site (MGP-4) and males were also exposed to MGP residue composite from seven different sites (MGP-M7). At 26, 39 and 52 weeks after exposure tumorigenesis was assessed in lung, forestomach and liver.

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The tumorigenic activity of manufactured gas plant residue (MGP) was evaluated in female A/J mice using a F0927 basal gel diet system. Adulterated diets containing MGP (0.10% or 0.

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The identification of ductal plate cells as likely progenitors for bile duct epithelium and hepatocytes and their possible reappearance as oval cells in the regenerating liver have generated much interest in their pluripotential capacities. We have examined the distribution of three hematopoietic stem cell markers, c-kit, CD34, and CD33 in addition to laminin, the standard cytokeratin markers CAM 5.2, CK 18, and CK 7 and the oval cell marker OV-6 in fetal liver during various stages of development.

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We have recently reported that cell lines of nonparenchymal origin isolated from rat liver and pancreas, which have been suggested to be the progeny of a facultative stem cell compartment in vivo, express an unusual combination of keratins (K). These cell lines express K8 and K14 but not K18 and K5, their normal partners in filament formation (Bisgaard HC, Thorgeirsson SS, J Cell Physiol 147:333-343, 1991). However, upon spontaneous transformation and differentiation toward a hepatoblastlike progeny, K14 expression is abrogated and replaced by expression of K18 (Wirth et al.

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) were used to follow the time course of ethanol-induced fatty liver in a group of 10 rats fed a diet containing 12% alcohol (ethanol) over a 5-week period. The MR data consisted of T1-weighted images, in vivo 1H spectra, and in vivo T1 relaxation measurements. Changes in short TR images as a result of fatty accumulation were noted only as a slight increase in liver intensity relative to surrounding muscle.

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Although proliferation of small ductular-like cells, designated oval cells, is often observed during the early stages of chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis, their role during the carcinogenic process remains controversial. To investigate the possibility that oval cells may give rise to preneoplastic lesions that ultimately progress to hepatocellular carcinomas, we have carried out phenotypic analysis with a panel of monoclonal antibodies to determine if there is an antigenic relationship between oval cells and hepatic foci, nodules, and tumors induced by the resistant hepatocyte model system. In this model, rats are given a single dose (200 mg/kg) of diethylnitrosamine, followed by a brief exposure to 2-acetylaminofluorene and a partial hepatectomy.

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Exposure of female hepatitis B virus transgenic mice of lineage 50-4, which display liver injury secondary to overexpression of the gene for the large envelope polypeptide of hepatitis B virus, to the hepatocarcinogens aflatoxin and diethylnitrosamine produced more rapid and extensive evidence of nodule formation and oval cell proliferation, as well as the development of adenomas and primary hepatocellular carcinomas, than was seen in transgenic mice not exposed to carcinogens. Adult mice are known to be resistant to the effects of aflatoxin or diethylnitrosamine, and the livers of carcinogen-treated nontransgenic littermate controls were essentially normal. By the time of sacrifice (15 mo), 20 adenomas and 2 primary hepatocellular carcinomas were found in 26 transgenic mice given aflatoxin and 8 adenomas and 2 primary hepatocellular carcinomas were seen in the 8 mice exposed to diethylnitrosamine, but no adenomas or carcinomas were identified in the 10 transgenic mice not exposed to carcinogens.

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In-vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have been performed to follow pathological changes induced by 3-sec and 10-second burns on eleven rat tails. T1-weighted, T2-weighted, density-weighted, and water-suppressed images were acquired immediately after and four days following thermal injury. MRI results were correlated with histology.

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Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, localized in vivo proton spectroscopy, and T1 relaxation measurements were obtained from the livers of rats treated chronically with carbon tetrachloride and phospholipase D. The MR data correlated well with lipid changes measured biochemically and histologically. MR images appeared generally hyperintense during fatty infiltration, changing to hypointense mottling during cirrhosis.

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The early cellular and molecular changes in the Solt-Farber model of hepatocarcinogenesis with and without initiation was studied by using histochemical, immunohistochemical, and in situ hybridization techniques. Increased cellularity was observed in the periductal space in both models 32 to 56 h after partial hepatectomy. These periductal cells and Ito cells were the only cells that became labeled with tritiated thymidine in the uninitiated liver model.

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Fifty-nine transgenic mice from a lineage that overproduces the hepatitis B virus large envelope polypeptide and accumulates high intrahepatic concentrations of hepatitis B surface antigen were followed for evidence of liver disease throughout their 24-month life span. By 4 months of age all mice displayed biochemical and histological evidence of moderately severe chronic hepatitis which was followed sequentially by the development of regenerative nodules and oval cell hyperplasia (by 6 months), liver cell adenomas (by 8 months), and hepatocellular carcinomas (by 12 months of age). One hundred % of mice in this lineage developed hepatocellular carcinoma by 20 months of age, whereas no histopathological changes were observed in age- and sex-matched nontransgenic littermate controls over the same period of observation.

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The histopathological response and cell culture characteristics of liver cells from the R16 (grc-) strain of rats, which carries an MHC-linked deletion, were examined one week after a single intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg/kg body weight diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and were compared with the response of liver cells from wild type (grc+) rats. The DEN exposure induced hydropic/vacuolar changes in the parenchymal cells and a limited proliferation of oval cells in the periportal areas of the livers of both grc+ and grc- rats. Primary culture of collagenase-digested livers consisted of parenchymal, bile ductular and oval-related cells as determined by cell-specific immunohistochemistry.

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Transgenic mice that overproduce the hepatitis B virus large envelope polypeptide and accumulate toxic quantities of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) within the hepatocyte develop severe, prolonged hepatocellular injury that initiates a programmed response within the liver, characterized by inflammation, regenerative hyperplasia, transcriptional deregulation, and aneuploidy. This response inexorably progresses to neoplasia. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in this model corresponds to the frequency, severity, and age of onset of liver cell injury, which itself corresponds to the intrahepatic concentration of HBsAg and is influenced by genetic background and sex.

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The DNA content and ploidy state of cells isolated from the livers of rats exposed to the carcinogen 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene for 10 and 20 weeks, as determined by flow cytometry, were correlated with the development of oval cells in the livers of treated animals and with serum levels of the oncoprotein alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). The study revealed that there was initially a steady rise in the AFP levels found in the carcinogen treated rats. Associated with this increase was a change in the ploidy pattern of the liver from an approximately equal mixture of tetraploid and diploid cells to a predominantly diploid state.

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Different lineages of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were identified by the application of selected monoclonal antibodies to the study of the sequential histopathological changes which occurred during two regimens of chemical carcinogenesis in the rat. One regimen, that of Solt-Farber, caused prominent oval cell proliferation and large multiple neoplastic nodules, and the other regimen, continuous administration of diethylnitrosamine, produced minimal oval cell proliferation and a few small nodules. However, both regimens produce HCC in most exposed rats.

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Monoclonal antibodies (moabs) to neoplastic and preneoplastic liver cells in rats have been selected to follow cellular changes in the livers during chemical carcinogenesis. The moabs were induced by immunizations of BALB/c mice with four partially purified liver cell preparations: 1) oval cells induced in male Fischer rats fed 0.05% N-2-acetylaminofluorene in a choline deficient diet: 2) preneoplastic gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase positive hepatocytes induced by i.

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A review of the morphologic, autoradiographic, and phenotypic analysis of the cellular changes seen during induction of cancer of the liver in rats by chemical carcinogens is used to develop an alternative to the established hypothesis that chemically induced hepatocellular carcinoma arises from premalignant nodules. The authors propose that hepatocellular and ductular carcinomas arise from a pluripotent liver stem cell and that enzyme-altered foci and nodular changes are adaptive non-oncogenic responses to the toxic effects of carcinogens. It is further postulated that persistent nodules may provide an environment that nurtures development of neoplastic cells other than the altered hepatocytes that originally form the nodule.

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Canalicular and mitochondrial membranes were investigated as early foci of hepatocyte injury in fed and fasted male Sprague-Dawley rats given 50 mg of 1,1-dichloroethylene (DCE)/kg. Staining of the bile canaliculi localized enzymes, leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), and Mg++-dependent ATPase (Mg++-ATPase), was examined by histochemistry in frozen sections. Mitochondrial membrane enzymes, including succinate dehydrogenase, also were examined by histochemistry.

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Covalent DNA addition products (adducts) formed by the reaction of chemical carcinogens or their metabolites with DNA are critically involved in the initiation of chemical carcinogenesis and may serve as molecular markers and dosimeters for environmental carcinogen exposures. Using a highly sensitive 32P-postlabeling assay for DNA adduct analysis, we studied DNA damage elicited by cigarette smoke in tissues of smokers. A multitude of characteristic smoking-induced, presumably aromatic DNA adducts were found to occur in a dose- and time-dependent manner in the lung, bronchus, and larynx of smokers with cancer of these organs and to decline only slowly after cessation of smoking.

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The intestines of normal and resistant LAF1 mice were subjected to histologic study to determine the timing and mechanisms of resistance to reinfection by Heligmosmoides polygyrus. During reinfection third-stage larvae are less able to penetrate the intestinal wall. Larvae which are able to encyst develop at a slower rate and provoke an increase in nonspecific inflammation around their cysts.

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The cellular, biochemical, and genetic changes that occur in the liver of rats exposed to chemical hepatocarcinogens are reviewed. Multiple new cell types appear in the liver of carcinogen-treated rats including foci, nodules, ducts, oval cells, and atypical hyperplastic areas. The application of phenotypic markers for these cell types suggests that hepatocellular carcinomas may arise from more than one cell type, including a putative liver stem cell that proliferates following carcinogen exposure.

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Surface-localized rat RT1 alloantigens on isolated hepatocytes have been used to achieve partial purification of putative premalignant liver cells from rats undergoing chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis. Genotypic mosaic rat livers were constructed by transplantation of carcinogen-altered F-344 (RT1Iv1) or WF (RT1u) donor liver cells into livers of WF X F-344 F1 host rats, whose liver cells bear alloantigens of both parental strains: WF and F-344, RT1u and RT1Iv1, respectively (J. M.

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Newly found metaplastic ductlike structures that form in the liver of rats exposed to carcinogens are connected to preexisting bile ducts. Male Fischer rats fed a diet of N-2-acetylaminofluorene in a choline-deficient diet (CDAAF) develop a massive proliferation of oval cells which appear to differentiate into bile-ductlike structures. However, unlike normal or proliferating bile ducts, these ductlike structures contain alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and albumin, which are markers for proliferating hepatocytes and some hepatocellular carcinomas.

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