Exogenous Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase suppresses the stimulation of neonatal rat hepatocytes' growth by tumor promoters

Abstract

A single exposure to a low concentration (10−10 mol/l) of tumor promoters [such as 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), phenobarbital and nafenopin] or hormones [such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), glucagon and insulin] or drugs [such as imidazole and indomethacin] stimulated the 24-h flow into DNA synthesis and mitosis of primary neonatal rat hepatocytes incubated in highcalcium (1.8 mmol/l) Eagle's FBS(10% v/v)-MEM. However, only tumor promoters acted as enhancers of hepatocytic DNA synthesis when a lowcalcium (0.01 mmol/l) FBS-MEM was used. The activity of tumor promoters was totally suppressed by the simultaneous (or nearly such) addition of low doses (from 25.0 to 0.25 μg/ml; activity, from 100 to 0.7 U/ml) of exogenous bovine liver and ox and dog erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), independent of the calcium concentration of the medium. Even at the minimal dose administered, SOD effectively inhibited the stimulatory actions of TPA concentrations up to 10 ⁻⁶mol/l. SOD'S blocking effect depended upon its enzymatic activity, as it was prevented by a specific inhibitor of SOD, sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC). By contrast, SOD did not inhibit the growth stimulation elicited by hormones and drugs in hepatocytes maintained in highcalcium FBS-MEM. Moreover, several tumor promoters (namely TPA, phenobarbital, nafenopin, saccharin, teleocidin, benzoyl peroxide, BHT, DDT, lindane, clofibrate and melittin) stimulated DNA synthesis even when the hepatocytes were incubated in the serumless HiWoBa2000 medium, whatever its calcium concentration. In this synthetic medium, tumor promoters' stimulatory activity was again completely inhibited by the simultaneous administration of exogenous SOD. Known antioxidants such as retinoids, vitamin E, selenous acid, and 7,8-benzoflavone, when given simultaneously with TPA, also prevented the stimulation of hepatocytic growth. These results disclose the existence of two quite different mechanisms by which the growth of neonatal rat hepatocytes can be stimulated: (i) the physiological-pharmacological extracellular calcium-dependent SOD-insensitive system mediating the effects of EGF, glucagon, insulin, imidazole, and indomethacin; and (ii) the pathological extracellular calcium-independent SOD- and antioxidant-suppressible mechanism operated by agents belonging to the tumor promoters class and involving, as a critical step, the generation of superoxide anions on the surface of the hepatocyte plasmalemma.