Particulate matter (PM) generally consists of aggregated particles containing trace metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A1, one of the extensively investigated biomarkers, is highly inducible when PAHs activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). The present study focused on developing a LC-MS/MS-based assay to evaluate CYP1A1 induction potential following PM exposure. This assay adapted a CYP1A1 selective reaction of granisetron 7-hydroxylation in response to an AhR inducer, 6-formylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (FICZ), in HepaRG and A549 cell lines. Exposure to FICZ (10 nM) increased the levels of granisetron 7-hydroxylation significantly, whereas no elevation of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylation (EROD) activity was found in HepaRG cells. In A549 cells, granisetron 7-hydroxylation showed a better dose-response from 0 to 10000 nM FICZ treatment than EROD. EROD Additionally, the application of the assay with diesel PM exposure showed a concentration-dependent induction of CYP1A1 in HepaRG, A549, and human nasal epithelial cells. The granisetron assay has better selectivity for CYP1A1 than the conventional EROD assay, which is overlapped reaction with CYP1A2 and CYP1B1, with high correlations between AhR activation and CYP1A1 mRNA levels. Accompanying the great application potential to different organs and cell culture systems, future studies will implement the granisetron assay for the respiratory toxicity evaluation.
Keywords: AhR; CYP1A1; Enzyme induction; Granisetron; LC-MS; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.
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