Quantification of Colonic Stem Cell Mutations

Summary

We report significant improvements for the reproducible measurement of somatic colonic stem cell mutations after exposure of mice to potential DNA damaging agents.

Abstract

The ability to measure stem cell mutations is a powerful tool to quantify in a critical cell population if, and to what extent, a chemical can induce mutations that potentially lead to cancer. The use of an enzymatic assay to quantify stem cell mutations in the X-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase gene has been previously reported.¹ This method requires the preparation of frozen sections and incubation of the sectioned tissue with a reaction mixture that yields a blue color if the cells produce functional glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) enzyme. If not, the cells appear whitish. We have modified the reaction mixture using Optimal Cutting Temperature Compound (OCT) medium in place of polyvinyl alcohol. This facilitates pH measurement, increases solubilization of the G6PD staining components and restricts diffusion of the G6PD enzyme. To demonstrate that a mutation occurred in a stem cell, the entire crypt must lack G6PD enzymatic activity. Only if a stem cell harbors a phenotypic G6PD mutation will all of the progeny in the crypt lack G6PD enzymatic activity. To identify crypts with a stem cell mutation, four consecutive adjacent frozen sections (a level) were cut at 7 µm thicknesses. This approach of making adjacent cuts provides conformation that a crypt was fully mutated since the same mutated crypt will be observed in adjacent sections. Slides with tissue samples that were more than 50 µm apart were prepared to assess a total of >10⁴ crypts per mouse. The mutation frequency is the number of observed mutated (white) crypts ÷ by the number of wild type (blue) crypts in a treatment group.

Introduction

Colon cancer is thought to involve exposure to environmental agents and dietary components that can damage DNA and produce activating somatic mutations in oncogenes (e.g., ß-catenin) or inactivating mutations in tumor suppressor genes (e.g., APC). It is assumed that these critical mutations occur in colonic stem cells. Because of the unique crypt architecture of the colonic epithelium, it is possible to measure stem cell mutations in the colon after exposing animals to chemicals associated with colon carcinogenesis. Several X-linked enzymes can serve as indicators for mutations that occur in stem cells, as the mutations will be present in all ce....

Protocol

The experimental procedures and ethical treatment of animals was approved by the University of Pittsburgh IACUC (protocol #1104674).

1. Preparation of G6PD Staining Mixture

NOTE: Ensure that the final concentration of each reagents is as follows; 5 mM glucose-6-phosphate (G6P); 2 mM NADP, 5 mM MgCl₂, 0.35 mM 1-methoxy-5-methylphenazinium methyl sulfate (MMPMS) and 0.8 mM NBT.^1,8,9 For each reagent the initial concentration was derived for a 40 ml final volume. Solutions were freshly prepared and used each day.

1. Add 2 ml of 200 mM pH 7.4 phosphate buffer (PB) to 35 ml of OCT medium in a 50 ml tube and....

Results

The ability to measure colonic stem cell mutations in animals provides a unique way to correlate mutations to cancer induction. Normally, it is assumed that the critical step in carcinogenesis involves activating mutations in oncogenes and/or inactivating mutations in tumor suppressor genes. We injected C57Bl/6 mice with 200 µl of PBS or 10 mg/kg AOM in 200 µl of PBS. AOM is a known colon carcinogen.^5-7 At 90 days the colons were analyzed for stem cell mutations. This time is required to allow stem cells to fu.......

Discussion

Often the genotoxic effect of a compound is determined by its ability to modify DNA. This is normally done by isolating the tissue and measuring the global level of DNA adducts. For AOM, this would involve quantifying O⁶-methylguanine adducts in the colon. Using this approach information on damage within specific cell types, such as in the stem cell niche, is lost. In addition, a DNA adduct is not the same as a mutation since only a small subset of adducts are eventually converted into fixed mutations.^12<.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
reagents
nitroblue tetrazolium
NADP
glucose-6-phosphate
1-methoxy-5-methylphenazinium methyl sulfate
dimethyl formamide
phosphate buffer (pH 7.4
Optimal Cutting Temperature Compound (OCT)
Equipment
light microscope equipped with 5 megapixel camera
cryostat
warm room