Alternatives to whole animal testing: Use of cDNA probes for studies of phase I and II enzyme induction in isolated plaice

Studies of xenobiotic metabolism and the regulation of enzyme systems for their metabolism (Phase I and II enzyme systems) require large numbers of animals, intensive use of experimental aquarium systems and in some instances can pose major problems when the compounds are scarce, expensive or too toxic to be disposed of easily. Previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of isolated primary hepatocytes of fish for metabolic and enzyme induction studies. Functionally and structurally competent hepatocytes were isolated from juvenile plaice and after overnight acclimation to culture conditions, were exposed to a variety of PAHs for 24h. The levels of CYP1A1, phenol UDPGT and GST-A mRNAs were then estimated by slot blotting and hybridisation to their cDNA probes. The method enabled rapid and easy determination of the structure/activity relationships of these compounds as inducers of these key Phase I and II enzymes, and is potentially useful for screening large numbers of compounds both as an invitro toxicity test and for mechanistic studies.