Cisplatin-induced apoptosis in cultures of human Schwann cells

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 392; no. 1; pp. 22 - 26
• Main Authors: Jirsova, Katerina, Mandys, Vaclav, Gispen, Willem Hendrik, Bär, Peter Rudolf
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 09.01.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Count - methods; Cell Nucleus - drug effects; Cells, Cultured; Chemotherapy; Chromatin - drug effects; Cisplatin; Cisplatin - pharmacology; Comet assay; Comet Assay - methods; DNA Fragmentation - drug effects; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Human Schwann cells; Humans; In Situ Nick-End Labeling - methods; Medical sciences; Nuclear chromatin changes; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Schwann Cells - drug effects; Schwann Cells - pathology; Time Factors; TUNEL method; Human Schwann cells; Cisplatin; Comet assay; Nuclear chromatin changes; Apoptosis; TUNEL method; Antineoplastic agent; Human; Chromatin; Neuroglia; In vitro; Cell death; Schwann cell
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2005.08.068

To investigate the sensitivity of human Schwann cells to cisplatin (cis-DDP), different approaches to estimate DNA damage were used: the comet assay, morphological evaluation of the granular condensation of nuclear chromatin and the terminal transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end-labelling (TUNEL) method. The number of micronuclei (MNi), as a sign of cisplatin-induced genotoxicity, was counted. DNA damage assessed by the comet assay was already evident after 1.5 μM cisplatin treatment at all exposure times (24, 48, and 72 h). Initial morphological changes characterised by the granular condensation of nuclear chromatin were detectable after 24 h exposure to 25 μM cis-DDP, while an increased number of apoptotic cells, determined by the TUNEL method, was noted after 48 h exposure to the same concentration. The first significant increase in the number of MNi was observed in cells treated with 75 μM cis-DDP for 24 h. We demonstrate that the comet assay is a highly sensitive method for measuring cisplatin induced DNA damage. Morphological observation revealed advanced as well as less prominent alterations in the nuclear chromatin. In contrast, the TUNEL method detected only those cells with advanced DNA fragmentation.