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Temporal Concordance between Apical and Transcriptional Points-of-Departure for Chemical Risk Assessment

ABSTRACT: The number of legacy chemicals without toxicity reference values combined with the rate of new chemical development are overwhelming the capacity of the traditional risk assessment paradigm. More efficient approaches are needed to quantitatively estimate chemical risks. In this study, rats were dosed orally with multiple doses of six chemicals for 5 days, 2, 4, and 13 weeks. Target organs were analyzed for traditional histological and organ weight changes and transcriptional changes using microarrays. Histological and organ weight changes in this study and the tumor incidences in the original cancer bioassays were analyzed using benchmark dose (BMD) methods to identify noncancer and cancer points-of-departure. The dose-response changes in gene expression were also analyzed using BMD methods and the responses grouped based on signaling pathways. A comparison of transcriptional BMD values for the most sensitive pathway with BMD values for the noncancer and cancer apical endpoints showed a high degree of correlation at all time points. When the analysis included data from an earlier study with 8 additional chemicals, transcriptional BMD values for the most sensitive pathway were significantly correlated with noncancer (r = 0.827, p = 0.0031) and cancer-related (r = 0.940, p = 0.0002) BMD values at 13 weeks. The average ratio of apical-to-transcriptional BMD values was less than two suggesting that for the current chemicals, transcriptional perturbation did not occur at significantly lower doses than apical responses. Based on our results, we propose a practical framework for application of transcriptomic data to chemical risk assessment.

ORGANISM(S): Rattus norvegicus

PROVIDER: GSE45892 | GEO | 2013/04/22

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA196610

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:The number of legacy chemicals without toxicity reference values combined with the rate of new chemical development are overwhelming the capacity of the traditional risk assessment paradigm. More efficient approaches are needed to quantitatively estimate chemical risks. In this study, rats were dosed orally with multiple doses of six chemicals for 5 days, 2, 4, and 13 weeks. Target organs were analyzed for traditional histological and organ weight changes and transcriptional changes using microarrays. Histological and organ weight changes in this study and the tumor incidences in the original cancer bioassays were analyzed using benchmark dose (BMD) methods to identify noncancer and cancer points-of-departure. The dose-response changes in gene expression were also analyzed using BMD methods and the responses grouped based on signaling pathways. A comparison of transcriptional BMD values for the most sensitive pathway with BMD values for the noncancer and cancer apical endpoints showed a high degree of correlation at all time points. When the analysis included data from an earlier study with 8 additional chemicals, transcriptional BMD values for the most sensitive pathway were significantly correlated with noncancer (r = 0.827, p = 0.0031) and cancer-related (r = 0.940, p = 0.0002) BMD values at 13 weeks. The average ratio of apical-to-transcriptional BMD values was less than two suggesting that for the current chemicals, transcriptional perturbation did not occur at significantly lower doses than apical responses. Based on our results, we propose a practical framework for application of transcriptomic data to chemical risk assessment. Four to five week-old rats were exposed in dose-response and for multiple durations to 6 chemicals. The chemicals were 1,2,4-tribromobenzene (CAS No. 615-54-3), 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol (CAS No. 58-90-2), bromobenzene (CAS No. 108-86-1), 4,4'-methylenebis(N,N-dimethyl)benzenamine (CAS No. 101-61-1), hydrazobenzene (CAS No. 122-66-7), N-nitrosodiphenylamine (CAS No. 86-30-6). For 1,2,4-tribromobenzene and 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol, male Sprague Dawley (Rat/Crl:CD(SD)) rats were used. For bromobenzene and hydroazobenzene, male F344/DuCrl rats were used. For 4,4'-methylenebis(N,N-dimethyl)benzenamine and N-nitrosodiphenylamine, female F344/DuCrl rats were used. The exposure durations were 5 days, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 13 weeks. The dose and route of exposure are provided with the individual sample annotations. With each chemical treatment, a matched vehicle control group was run concurrently with the exposure. Gavage exposures were administered 7 days per week and feed exposures were provided 7 days per week. At the appropriate time point, animals were euthanized with a lethal intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital. For the liver, slices from each of the lobes were mixed together and used for microarray analysis. For the thyroid, the gland was transversely sectioned and the bottom portion was used for microarray analysis. For the bladder, the organ was longitudinally bisected, a slice was removed for histology and the remainder of the organ was minced and used for microarray analysis. Microarrays were run on five rats per dose per time point.

Project description:Current methods to support chemical hazard assessment face significant challenges given the rapidly growing number of compounds of emerging concern (CEC) requiring assessment. Standard testing strategies rely upon live animal testing, which are time-consuming, expensive, and ethically questionable. These concerns serve as an impetus to develop new approach methodologies (NAMs) that do not rely on live animal tests. This study explored the application of the molecular benchmark dose (BMD) approach in a 7-day embryo-larval fathead minnow (FHM) assay to derive determine transcriptomic points-of-departure (tPODs) which can be useds to predict apical BMDs of fluoxetine (FLX), a highly prescribed and potent selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor frequently detected in surface waters. Fertilized FHM embryos were exposed to graded concentrations of FLX (confirmed at <LOD, 0.19, 0.74, 3.38, 10.2, 47.5 µg/L) for 32 days. Subsets of fish were subjected to omics and locomotor analyses at 7 days post-fertilization (dpf) and to histological and biometric measurements at 32 dpf. Enrichment analyses of transcriptomics and proteomics data revealed significant perturbations in gene sets associated with serotonergic and axonal functions. BMD analysis resulted in tPOD values of 0.56 µg/L (median of the 20 most sensitive gene-level BMDs), 5.0 µg/L (tenth percentile of all gene-level BMDs), 7.51 µg/L (mode of the first peak of all gene-level BMDs) , and 5.66 µg/L (pathway-level BMD). These tPODs are protective of apical locomotor and reduced weight effects (LOEC of 10.2 µg/L) observed in this study and are well within the range of chronic apical BMDs of FLX reported in the literature. Furthermore, the distribution of gene-level BMDs followed a bimodal pattern, revealing disruption of sensitive neurotoxic pathways at low concentrations and metabolic pathway perturbations at higher concentrations. This is one of the first studies to derive tPODs for FLX using a short-term embryo assay at a life stage not considered to be a live animal under current legislations.

Project description:Purpose: The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recently recommended reducing the occupational equivalent dose limit for the lens of the eye. Based primarily on a review of epidemiological data, the absorbed dose threshold is now considered to be 0.5 Gy for induction of acute opacities, reduced from the previous threshold of 2 Gy. However, direct mechanistic evidence to support an understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of damage is still lacking. To this end, we explored the effects of a broad dose-range of ionizing radiation exposure on gene expression changes in a human lens epithelial (HLE) cell-line in order to better understand the shape of the dose-response relationship and identify transcriptional thresholds of effects. Methods: HLE cells were exposed to doses of 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.25, 0.5, 2, and 5 Gy of X-ray radiation at two dose rates (1.62 cGy/min and 38.2 cGy/min). Cell culture lysates were collected 20 h post-exposure and analysed using whole-genome RNA-sequencing. Pathways and dose-thresholds of biological effects were identified using benchmark dose (BMD) modeling. Results: Transcriptional responses were minimal at doses less than 2 Gy. At higher doses there were a significant number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (p < 0.05, fold change > |1.5|) at both dose rates, with 1308 DEGs for the low dose rate (LDR) and 840 DEGs for the high dose rate (HDR) exposure. Dose-response modeling showed that a number of genes exhibited non-linear bi-phasic responses, which was verified by digital droplet PCR. BMD analysis showed the majority of the pathways responded at BMD median values in the dose range of 1.5-2.5 Gy, with the lowest BMD median value being 0.6 Gy for the HDR exposure. The minimum pathway BMD median value for LDR exposure, however, was 2.5 Gy. Although the LDR and HDR exposures shared pathways involved in extracellular matrix reorganization and collagen production with BMD median value of 2.9 Gy, HDR exposures were more effective in activating pathways associated with DNA damage response, apoptosis, and cell cycling relative to LDR exposure. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that radiation induces complex non-linear transcriptional dose-response relationships that are dose-rate dependent. Pathways shared between the two dose rates may be important contributors to radiation-induced cataractogenesis. BMD analysis suggests that the majority of pathways are activated above 0.6 Gy, which supports current ICRP identified dose thresholds for deterministic effects to the lens of the eye of 0.5 Gy.

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Temporal Concordance between Apical and Transcriptional Points-of-Departure for Chemical Risk Assessment

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