Nicotinamide, Fluosol DA and Carbogen: a strategy to reoxygenate acutely and chronically hypoxic cells in vivo

The effect of Nicotinamide and/or treatment with Fluosol DA and Carbogen breathing on the radiation response of 500-750 mg SCCVII and KHT tumours has been evaluated. Pretreatment with Fluosol DA/Carbogen or Nicotinamide resulted in relatively modest enhancements of radiation damage with enhancement factors of 1.1 and 1.3 being observed using an in vivo/in vitro clonogenic end-point. A combination of Nicotinamide and Fluosol DA/Carbogen resulted in a larger enhancement factor of 1.6 over the radiation dose ranges studied. These modification factors reflect a value close to that expected for a fully aerobic response in this survival range. Growth delay studies in the SCCVII tumour provided similar results. Using a recently developed fluorescence activated cell sorting technique, which utilizes the in vivo pharmacokinetic and DNA binding properties of the bisbenzamide stain Hoechst 33342, the effect of Nicotinamide and/or Fluosol DA/Carbogen schedules on the occurrence of acute hypoxia was assessed. The results clearly show that Nicotinamide significantly reduces the amount of 'acute hypoxia', but has a lesser effect on 'chronic' hypoxic cells. However, combinations of Nicotinamide and Fluosol DA/Carbogen significantly increase the response of both 'acutely' and 'chronically hypoxic' cells. The results provide evidence that a combination of Nicotinamide and Fluosol DA/Carbogen can provide an effective way of reoxygenating both acutely and chronically hypoxic cells.