Fibroblast investigation

Unfortunately, a minority of the patients with peroxisomal dysfunction cannot be diagnosed using plasma parameters. In the authors laboratory, patients have been seen with peroxisome biogenesis defects, D-bifunctional protein deficiency, and acyl-CoA oxidase deficiency in whom no abnormalities of plasma VLCFA, phytanic acid, pristanic acid or bile acids could be established. Hence, a strong clinical suspicion of peroxisomal disease should always be verified by fibroblast investigation, regardless of the outcome of plasma analyses. 

In vitro cytotoxicity assays using isolated cells have been applied intermittently to cyanobacterial toxicity testing over several years." Cells investigated for suitability in cyanobacterial toxin assays include primary liver cells (hepatocytes) isolated from rodents and fish, established permanent mammalian cell lines, including hepatocytes, fibroblasts and cancerous cells, and erythrocytes. Earlier work suggested that extracts from toxic cyanobacteria disrupted cells of established lines and erythrocytes," but studies with purified microcystins revealed no alterations in structure or ion transport in fibroblasts or erythrocytes,... 

The second methodologic consideration relates to the type of cells which are used as controls for the biochemical determinations. While less a problem now, there was a tendency in some early investigations to use cultured skin fibroblasts or similar cells as controls for the cultured amniotic fluid cells. 

In addition to this major adduct which, in some biological systems, such as human bronchus (90) or mouse skin (74) or fibroblast 10T1/2 cells in culture (133), accounts for almost all of the DNA adducts, other derivatives have been detected in many systems which have been investigated. These may vary with respect to tissue (134.135.136) or time of exposure (135,137). 

Wu et al. (1998) noted that doxombicin-induced apoptosis in lymphoid cells was blocked by pepstatin A, which is an inhibitor of cathepsin D. These investigators also observed that cathepsin D was induced through p53 DNA-binding sites at the cathepsin D promoter. Moreover, they have foimd that, compared to fibroblasts from wild-type mice, cathepsin D-/- fibroblasts from gene knock-out mice exhibited increased resistance to death caused by doxombicin. Also, in semm-deprived rat PC 12 cells undergoing apoptosis, the amoimt of cathepsin B has been observed to decline, while the level of cathepsin D increased (Shibata et al, 1998), and, in our laboratory (Kagedal et al, 2001), the same phenomenon was recently seen in human fibroblasts exposed to naphthazarin. 

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