Effects of 3-methylcholanthrene and aspirin co-administration on ALDH3A1 in HepG2 cells

The effects of two different protocols of 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC) and aspirin co-administration were studied in a well-established human hepatoma cell line (HepG2). During this work, we have performed toxicity tests for cell viability/cell proliferation as well as studies on the expression of ALDH3A1 after exposure of HepG2 cells to 3MC or/and aspirin. For the evaluation of toxic concentrations of 3MC and aspirin, the WST-1 test was used. WST-1 is a reliable cytotoxicity test which is based on the cleavage of the tetrazolium salt WST-1 to formazan by mitochondrial enzymes of living cells. A broad range of drug concentrations for either 3MC (0.25-50.0 microM) or aspirin (0.05-10.0 mM) were used for cell exposure, in several periods of time. The expression of ALDH3A1 in HepG2 cells showed typical time- and dose-response curves of induction after application of 3MC (1-5 days, 1.5-5.0 microM, respectively). When cells were firstly exposed to 3MC (2.5 and 5.0 microM) and then to aspirin (0.25 mM), the induced ALDH3A1 activity was further enhanced in a statistically significant way (P<0.05). On the contrary, when aspirin application was preceded 3MC exposuring a statistically significant decrease in ALDH3A1 inducibility was observed, as compared with the application of 3MC alone.