The Effects of Specific Environmental Pollutants on the Biosynthetic Functions of Mammalian Cells 'in vitro.' A Search for Structure/Activity Relationships.

摘要

Three test systems-heme synthesis by rat liver homogenates and rabbit reticulocyte lystaes, globin synthesis by a cell-free rabbit reticulocyte lysate system and erythroid cell proliferation in a plasma clot culture system have been established and standardized. For the enzyme systems, studies have been done to show the stability, of the enzymes at -70 C. Vehicles used for delivery of the benzene and toluene derivatives were examined for their effects on the globin translation and erythroid culture systems. The effects of benzene, the dinitrobenzenes, the dinitrotoluenes, and the trisubstituted toluenes on heme synthesis and globin synthesis were studied. Benzene was shown to have little deleterious effect on either the enzymes of heme synthsis or on globin translation. Ortho- and para-dinitrobenzene were shown to affect heme and globin synthesis more than meta-dinitrobenzene. Dose-toxicity studies of the effect of 23 benzene and toluene derivatives on ALA synthetase and heme synthetase were examined. The most pronounced effects were seen with the dinitrobenzenes, the dinitrotoluenes, the trinitrotoluenes, the amino-dinitrotoluenes, and hexachlorobenzene.