Two-generation reproduction study of ammonium perchlorate in drinking water in rats evaluates thyroid toxicity.

Perchlorate is an inorganic ion that has recently been detected in drinking water supplies throughout the country, but little is known about its effects on reproductive function. This two-generation reproductive study examines the effects of ammonium perchlorate on the male and female reproductive systems in rats, and on the growth and development of offspring. Adult Sprague-Dawley rats (30/sex/group) were given continuous access to ammonium perchlorate in their drinking water at doses of 0, 0.3, 3.0, and 30.0 mg/kg-day. F1 generation rats were given the same ammonium perchlorate doses as their respective P1 generation sires and dams beginning at weaning and continuing through the day of sacrifice. Standard reproductive parameters were evaluated; blood was collected for determination of serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) levels. Histopathological examination was conducted on major tissues, including the thyroid. No significant changes in developmental parameters were observed. In the F1 generation adult rats, relative thyroid weights were significantly increased in all dose groups for female rats and in the 3.0 and 30.0 mg/kg-day dose groups for male rats. Histopathologic changes in the thyroid consisted of hypertrophy and hyperplasia that increased in incidence and severity in a dose-related manner. Dose-related, statistically significant changes in TSH and T4 or T3 occurred at doses higher than those that resulted in changes in thyroid weight and thyroid histopathology, 30 mg/kg-day. Thus, perchlorate is not a reproductive toxicant in rats when administered in the drinking water at doses up to 30 mg/kg-day, but it can affect the thyroid at doses > or =3 mg/kg-day. Based on these findings, 0.3 mg/kg-day is identified to be the no-observable-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for this study.

Oral (drinking water) developmental toxicity study of ammonium perchlorate in New Zealand White rabbits.

This developmental toxicity study was conducted to evaluate the embryo-fetal toxicity and teratogenic potential of ammonium perchlorate in New Zealand White [Hra:(NZW)SPF] rabbits. Pregnant rabbits were given continual access to ammonium perchlorate in drinking water at target doses of 0, 0.1, 1.0, 10.0, 30.0, and 100.0 mg/kg-day on gestation days 6 through 28. The actual consumed doses in the study were 0, 0.1, 0.9, 10.4, 30.3, and 102.3 mg/kg-day. The rabbits were sacrificed on gestation day 29, and fetuses were examined for developmental alterations. In addition, blood was collected from does for determination of serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) levels and the thyroid was subjected to histopathologic examination. No maternal deaths were attributed to perchlorate exposure. Ammonium perchlorate as high as 100.0 mg/kg-day did not affect caesarean sectioning or litter parameters studied, and all values were found to be within the historical ranges of the laboratory. The litter averages for corpora lutea, implantations, litter sizes, live and dead fetuses, percent dead or resorbed conceptuses, and fetal body weights were comparable and also did not differ significantly in the six dose groups. All placentae appeared normal and no dam had a litter consisting of only resorbed conceptuses. The maternal thyroid was the target organ for ammonium perchlorate in this study. Increased incidence of thyroid follicular hypertrophy was observed in does treated with > or =10 mg/kg-day perchlorate and significantly decreased T4 was observed in does treated with > or =30 mg/kg-day. Based on these data, the maternal no-observable-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for ammonium perchlorate was 1.0 mg/kg-day. The developmental NOAEL for ammonium perchlorate was found to be 100.0 mg/kg-day for rabbits.

Preparation of clinical grade proteins produced by recombinant DNA technologies.

Methods were developed for the production of clinical grade malaria vaccine candidates expressed in E. coli by recombinant DNA technologies. The essential features of the purification protocol consist of (1) mechanical breakage of host cells and solubilization of the recombinant proteins in 6 M guanidine hydrochloride; (2) ammonium sulfate fractionation; (3) affinity chromatography on a Ni(2+)-chelate gel in the presence of 6 M guanidine hydrochloride; and (4) ion exchange chromatograph on a Phospho Ultrogel column in the presence of 6 M urea. The use of undesirable chemicals (PMSF, DFP, TFA, acetonitrile, etc.) was avoided rather than demonstrating their complete removal after the purification steps. Testing of chromatographic fractions for host-cell proteins and the elimination of fractions with E. coli protein content was found necessary to obtain a final product that contained less than 0.01% of host derived proteins. The recombinant proteins were renatured either from 8 M urea or from 6 M guanidine hydrochloride by increasing the pH to 10.5 in the presence of glycine and EDTA, reduction with DTT, dilution to a protein concentration below 1 mg.ml-1, and dialysis against 0.9% NaCl. The method presented here can be tailor-fit, with minor modification, for the purification of almost any recombinant protein and the final product satisfies current regulations concerning the production of clinically acceptable therapeutic products.

Tissue distribution and ultrastructure of B lymphocytes reacting with the monoclonal antibody anti-Y29/55.

The reactivity of normal tonsilar cells with the monoclonal antibody anti-Y29/55 is characterized at the tissue and ultrastructural cytological level. Using an indirect immuno-alkaline phosphatase method on frozen sections the antibody labels mantle zone and germinal center lymphocytes. This staining reaction is more generalized in B-lymphocyte areas than that obtained with antibodies to IgM and IgD. By indirect immunoperoxidase staining, as well as by an indirect rosetting procedure in cell suspensions, the reactive cell population were either small resting lymphocytes or activated lymphocytes corresponding to centrocytes, centroblasts, immunoblasts and plasmoblasts; some plasma cells were also labeled. These results characterize the monoclonal antibody anti-Y29/55 as a pan-B-marker antibody, useful for labeling resting and activated peripheral B-lymphocytes in frozen tissue sections and cell suspensions.

Monoclonal antibody against a membrane antigen characterizing leukemic human B-lymphocytes.

In the diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, the ready characterization of the neoplastic cell lineage by analysis of cell surface markers is of great importance. We present evidence for the existence of a human B-leukemia-associated antigen recognized by a complement-fixing monoclonal antibody (anti-Y 29/55). A hybridoma was produced by fusing mouse myeloma cells and splenocytes of a mouse immunized against lymphoid cells of a patient with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Characterization of anti-Y 29/55-reactive normal and malignant leukocytes was demonstrated by cytolysis and indirect immunofluorescence. This revealed reactivity with an antigen on B-lymphoma cells (11 patients), on leukemic lymphocytes in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (13 patients), and on malignant cells in hairy-cell leukemia (two patients) but not on leukemic cells of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (one patient), on T-lymphoma cells (one patient), on cells of acute myeloblastic leukemia (four patients), or of chronic myeloid leukemia (four patients). No specific cytolysis occurred with B- and T-peripheral blood lymphocytes from (a) healthy donors (16 individuals), (b) patient with reactive lymphocytosis (one patient), (c) nonleukemic multiple myeloma (six patients), or (d) Hodgkin's disease (three patients). Surface immunoglobulin-positive, sheep RBC-negative lymphocytes isolated from human spleen (three individuals), tonsils (seven individuals), and lymph nodes (one individual), however, were recognized. It is concluded that leukemic B-cells carry a marker characteristic of nonrecirculating sessile B-lymphocytes.

[Determination of leukemic B-lymphoma cells with the monoclonal antibody anti-Y 29/55]. / Nachweis von leukämischen B-Lymphomzellen durch den monoklonalen Antikörper Anti-Y 29/55.

The monoclonal antibody anti-Y 29/55 recognizes a group specific antigen on sessile human B-lymphocytes which do not belong to the recirculating lymphocyte pool. The occurrence of this antigen in malignant NHL, with or without leukemic state, and in other leukemias has been studied. The antigen was expressed on cells of various histologic B-cell types but not on leukemic cells of ALL, T-lymphoma, AML or CML. It is concluded that in malignant B-lymphoma, B-CLL and HCL, cells appearing in blood carry a marker characteristic of virgin or activated sessile B-lymphocytes. Anti-Y 29/55 permits differentiation of such cells from normal recirculating B-cells and other leukemic cells including ALL, AML and CML. In follow-up studies this antibody may be helpful in detecting early leukemic output. B-lymphocytic leukemia may reflect a disproportion between binding sites on the lymphatic reticulum and the neoplastic cells bearing this antigen, which might be involved in binding of B-lymphocytes to the supporting lymphatic reticulum.