Establishment of a primary hepatocyte culture from the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) and distribution of mercury in liver tissue

Abstract

The present study established a primary hepatocyte culture for the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus). To determine the suitable medium for growing the primary hepatic cells of this species, we compared the condition of cells cultured in three media that are frequently used for mammalian cell culture: Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium, RPMI-1640, and William's E. Of these, William's E medium was best suited for culturing the hepatic cells of this species. Using periodic acid-Schiff staining and ultrastructural observations, we demonstrated the cells collected from mongoose livers were hepatocytes. To evaluate the distribution of mercury (Hg) in the liver tissue, we carried out autometallography staining. Most of the Hg compounds were found in the central region of hepatic lobules. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum, which plays a role inxenobiotic metabolism, lipid/cholesterol metabolism, and the digestion and detoxification of lipophilic substances is grown in this area. This suggested that Hg colocalized with smooth endoplasmic reticulum. The results of the present study could be useful to identify the detoxification systems of wildlife with high Hg content in the body, and to evaluate the susceptibility of wildlife to Hg toxicity.

The Fate of Methylmercury Through Formation of Bismethylmercury Sulfide as an Intermediate in Mice

“…Hence, it seems likely that the formation of (MeHg)2S in distal colon content and substantial excretion of this sulfur adduct in mice are attributable to gut microbe-dependent H2S rather than CysSSH/GSSH extracellularly produced in the content of the mouse intestine. In the present study, we also detected (MeHg)2S from the rectal content of the wild small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus), which has a relatively high level of total Hg in its tissues 32 , that did not undergo artificial exposure to MeHg (supplemental Figure S1), suggesting that (MeHg)2S formation is due to a biotransformation mediated by gut microbe-dependent H2S in the mongoose.…”

The fate of methylmercury through the formation of bismethylmercury sulfide as an intermediate in mice

“…In the present study, we also detected (MeHg) 2 S from the rectal content of the wild small Indian mongoose ( Herpestes auropunctatus )(Supplemental Fig. S1 ), which has a relatively high level of total Hg in its tissues 34 that did not undergo artificial exposure to MeHg, suggesting that (MeHg) 2 S formation, at least in part, is due to a biotransformation mediated by gut microbe-dependent RSS in the mongoose.…”

Innovation for hepatotoxicity in vitro research models: A review

“…Various media supplements such as amino acids, hormones, growth factors, and other co-factors are important in primary culture. Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (Cho et al, 2015;Nemoto, Sakurai, Tazawa, & Ishikawa, 1989;Nikoozad, Ghorbanian, & Rezaei, 2014;Wu et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2014), Williams' E (Shibany, Totemeyer, Pratt, & Paine, 2016;Shri, Agrawal, Rani, Singh, & Onteru, 2017;Tomizawa et al, 2016b), Waymouth's MB (Rodriguez-Enriquez, Kai, Maldonado, Currin, & Lemasters, 2009), Ham's F12 (Rattanasinganchan et al, 2006;Sripa et al, 2005), RPMI 1640 (Horai et al, 2014;Khosravi, Shokri, & Eshghi, 2017;Mehdizadeh et al, 2017) and Leibovitz's 15 (L-15) (Anene, Rosenberg, Kleiner, Cornish, & Halushka, 2016;Mitaka, Sattler, & Pitot, 1991) are all available media formulations. Highly enriched media, which contain amino acid concentrations that are 5-10 times higher than most standard media, are superior for the maintenance of cell survival, preserving cellular protein levels and liver-specific functions (Gebhardt et al, 2003;Swift, Pfeifer, & Brouwer, 2010).…”