Hydrogen peroxide toxicity may be enhanced by heat shock gene induction in Drosophila

✍ Scribed by Jack D. Love; Alfred A. Vivino; Kenneth W. Minton

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 930 KB
• Volume: 126
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9541
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1041260109

✦ Synopsis

Recent evidence suggests that low dose exposure o i cells to hydrogen peroxide and/or induction of heat shock protein (HSP) synthesis will render cells resistant to the lethal effects of a subsequent high dose hydrogen peroxide stress. We explored this possibility in the Drosophila melanogaster Schneider tissue culture line 2. It was found that chronic low dose exposure (1 m M H202 tor 3 days) resulted in marked potentiation o i the toxic effects of a subsequent high dose exposure (50 m M H,02 for 1 h), as assessed by impairment of uridine incorporation and cell proliferation. Cells preexposed to low dose H202 exhibited enhanced heat shock gene transcription upon exposure to high dose H202, as compared to cells that did not receive low dose preexposure. Transcriptional induction o i the heat shock genes by a mild non-toxic heat shock resulted in marked enhancement of the anti-proliferative eftects ot a subsequent H202 exposure. Thus, low dose hydrogen peroxide exposure or mild heating results in subsequent enhancement o i high dose hydrogen peroxide toxicity; this eftect correlates with enhanced heat shock gene expression. Possible mechanisms are discussed.