Dietary modification of aflatoxin B1 carcinogenesis: mechanism studies with isolated hepatocytes from rainbow trout

Hepatocytes were prepared from rainbow trout by perfusion in situ with collagenase and hyaluronidase. Preparations normally showed high initial viability (95 +/- 5% dye exclusion, 92 +/- 5% lactate dehydrogenase retention) and gradually decreased in viability and glutathione concentration over 5 hours. Cellular metabolism of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a potent hepatocarcinogen, was characterized by an investigation of the following parameters: kinetics of AFB1 metabolism and DNA adduct formation, dose response, viabilities of detoxication and activation pathways with time, influence of organic solvents, and effect of variation in cell concentration. The AFB1 metabolites and DNA adducts were resolved and quantitated by high-performance liquid chromatography. From these results a standardized assay procedure was derived which we used to examine AFB1 metabolism and DNA adduct formation in hepatocytes from fish fed dietary substances known to alter the carcinogenic response to this mycotoxin. Dietary beta-naphthoflavone, which strongly inhibits AFB1 carcinogenesis in rainbow trout, dramatically and reproducibly altered AFB1 binding and metabolism in isolated hepatocytes. Overall rate of AFB1 metabolism and rates of detoxication reactions increased, whereas DNA binding decreased. Dietary cyclopropenoid fatty acids, powerful synergists and promoters of AFB1 carcinogenesis in trout, also repressed AFB1-DNA binding. Both dietary factors appeared to depress initial DNA damage by AFB1 but operated through different metabolic pathways to do so.