Department of Neurochemistry, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Stem Cell Bioengineering, Mossakowski Medical Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2022 Aug;241:113737. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113737. Epub 2022 Jun 10.
Mitochondria are energy factories of cells and important targets for methylmercury chloride (MgHgCl). Methylmercury (MeHg) is a well-known environmental toxicant that bioaccumulates in fish and shellfish. It readily crosses the placental barrier, making it a threat to correct fetal development. Despite being comprehensively investigated for years, this compound has not been assessed for its in vitro mitochondrial toxicity under different oxygen conditions. In this study, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) were used to evaluate the dependence of the expression of genes associated with pluripotency and mitochondria on atmospheric (21% O) and low (5% O) oxygen concentrations upon MeHgCl treatment. We showed that the toxicity of MeHgCl was strongly related to an increased mtDNA copy number and downregulation of the expression of an mtDNA replication and damage repair-associated gene POLG1 (Mitochondrial Polymerase Gamma Catalytic Subunit) in both tested oxygen conditions. In addition, the viability and mitochondrial membrane potential of hiPSCs were significantly lowered by MeHgCl regardless of the oxygen concentration. However, reactive oxygen species accumulation significantly increased only under atmospheric oxygen conditions; what was associated with increased expression of TFAM (Transcription Factor A, Mitochondrial) and NRF1 (Nuclear Respiratory Factor 1) and downregulation of PARK2 (Parkin RBR E3 Ubiquitin Protein Ligase). Taken together, our results demonstrated that MeHgCl could induce in vitro toxicity in hiPSCs through altering mitochondria-associated genes in an oxygen level-dependent manner. Thus, our work suggests that oxygen should be considered a factor was modulating the in vitro toxicity of environmental pollutants. Typical atmospheric conditions of in vitro culture significantly lower the predictive value of studies of such toxicity.
线粒体是细胞的能量工厂,也是甲基汞氯化物(MgHgCl)的重要靶点。甲基汞(MeHg)是一种众所周知的环境毒物,在鱼类和贝类中生物积累。它很容易穿过胎盘屏障,因此对胎儿的正常发育构成威胁。尽管多年来对其进行了全面研究,但尚未评估其在不同氧条件下对线粒体的体外毒性。在这项研究中,人类诱导多能干细胞(hiPSCs)用于评估与多能性和线粒体相关的基因的表达在 MeHgCl 处理下对大气(21% O)和低(5% O)氧浓度的依赖性。我们表明,MeHgCl 的毒性与 mtDNA 拷贝数增加和 mtDNA 复制和损伤修复相关基因 POLG1(线粒体聚合酶γ催化亚基)表达下调密切相关,在两种测试的氧条件下都是如此。此外,无论氧浓度如何,MeHgCl 都会显著降低 hiPSCs 的活力和线粒体膜电位。然而,活性氧的积累仅在大气氧条件下显著增加;这与 TFAM(线粒体转录因子 A)和 NRF1(核呼吸因子 1)的表达增加以及 PARK2(Parkin RBR E3 泛素蛋白连接酶)的下调有关。总之,我们的结果表明,MeHgCl 可以通过以氧水平依赖的方式改变与线粒体相关的基因在体外诱导 hiPSCs 的毒性。因此,我们的工作表明,氧应该被视为调节环境污染物体外毒性的一个因素。体外培养的典型大气条件显著降低了此类毒性研究的预测价值。