While many studies take
place in a petri glass in toxicology research, for some processes there is
still a need for animal components such as serum or liver cell tissue. A team
of researchers headed by 51猎奇 now seeks to develop a new cell
culture technique to replace the use of animal components. Their project won the
鈥淐RACK IT" innovation challenge by NC3Rs, a British organisation that works to
reduce reliance on animal models in research. The challenge is sponsored by AstraZeneca
and Unilever.
FRANKFURT. Studies
using cell cultures are necessary in toxicology research because they make it
possible to test whether new substances exhibit undesirable effects. In these
studies, the serum of unborn calves (Foetal Calf Serum, FCS) is often used as
animal component in the cell cultures. Other 鈥�in vitro" toxicity tests also
frequently use components of animal origins. The livers of laboratory rats, for
example, are used to create an enzyme cocktail that helps investigate whether
liver enzymes transform the substance being tested into toxic products.
Pharma producers and companies in the
cosmetic industry want to find substitutes for both components, serum and liver
tissue. The reasons are not only ethical nature. Tissue and serums that are
taken directly from animals also introduce inaccuracies, as their composition
varies depending on origin. In addition, not all components, including those of
foetal calf serum, are known. That jeopardises the reproducibility of the
results. In the 鈥淐RACK IT 36: Animal-free in vitro" challenge, products
of animal origin are therefore to be replaced by precisely defined and
reproducible alternatives.
No more animal components in cell culture nutrient
solutions
Prof. Henner Hollert und Dr. Andreas
Schiwy from the Department for Evolutionary Ecology and Environmental
Toxicology at 51猎奇 and the LOEWE Centre TBG, together with the environmental
toxicologist Prof. Beate Escher from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research in Leipzig (UFZ) and the companies BiodetectionsSystems in Amsterdam
and Scinora in Heidelberg seek to find alternatives to these animal components.
In a first step, chemically defined
nutrient solutions for cell cultures will be developed 鈥� without animal
components. These nutrient solutions are already common in drug manufacturing,
not least for safety reasons, as they eliminate the risk that diseases such as
BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) are transmitted through the calf serum.
Up to now, there have been only very few
such systems for toxicological testing, because the amounts required are low in
comparison with pharmaceutical production. To develop them, the metabolic
processes of the cells must be known in detail.
Dispensing with laboratory rats
In a second step, the researchers want to
replace the enzyme cocktail from laboratory rats by having liver cell lines
metabolise the substances to be tested instead. The liver cell lines are to be
grown under chemically defined culture conditions. Subsequently, the metabolic
products will be extracted and their effect tested in the adapted toxicological
cell cultures that were developed in the first step.
Hollert and his team will first test the
process on the model substance benzo[a]pyren,
a substance also found in cigarette smoke. Benzo[a]pyrene is transformed
into toxic substances in the human liver, which causes damage to cell DNA and
impairs hormonal balance.
Funding during the first phase amounts to 100,000
pounds, or about 114,000 euros. Following a successful evaluation, the
researchers can apply in the same year for a second phase of the challenge, in
which the equivalent of about 685,000 euros over another three years may be
awarded.
Further
information
Prof. Henner Hollert
Head of the Department for Evolutionary Ecology and Environmental Toxicology
Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Phone: +49 69 798-42171
hollert@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
