Determination of genotoxic activity of chemicals is an essential part of human risk assessment. For genotoxicity assessment, in vitro hepatic cell lines are most commonly used as they have retained certain level of xenobiotic metabolic activity. However, the traditional two-dimensional (2D) in vitro cell models have numerous limitations. Therefore scientists have in the last few years developed many in vitro three-dimensional (3D) cell models, which due to their higher complexity better imitate in vivo conditions. The advantage of 3D cell models compared to 2D monolayer models is the recovery of several biological functions such as intercellular interactions and cell – extracellular matrix interactions, which lead to better cell differentiation. The objective of this master's thesis was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of newly developed 3D in vitro cell model. In the first part we optimized the conditions for development of in vitro 3D cell model (spheroids) which was formed from human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cell line. The spheroids were formed by the forced floating method. They were compact and of uniform shape, size and growth. In the second part, 72 hours old spheroids were exposed to graded concentrations of two indirect acting genotoxic compounds, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo(4,5-b)pyridine (PhIP) for 24 and 72 hours. Cell proliferation, cell cycle and induction of DNA double-strand breaks were asessed by flow citometry. The results showed that BaP compound affected both cell cycle and cell proliferation, although no differences were noticed for PhIP. By analysing the presence of DNA double-strand breaks it was shown that BaP caused DNA damage after 24- and 72-hour exposure at concentration 䁥 1 μM. PhIP caused DNA damage at 200 μM after 24-hour exposure and at 䁥 25 μM after 72-hour exposure. Genotoxic effects of BaP and PhIP were (with the exception of short term exposure of spheroids to PhIP) detected at lower concentrations as we reported for in vitro 2D monolayer model. We can conclude that hepatic 3D cell model showed improved sensitivity for detection of cytotoxic and genotoxic activity of indirect acting genotoxic compounds. This research presents a step forward to bridge the gap between in vivo research and tests that are based on 2D monolayer models.
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