In vivo rat glandular stomach and colon micronucleus tests: Kinetics of micronucleated cells, apoptosis, and cell proliferation in the target tissues after a single oral administration of stomach- or colon-carcinogens

•We developed rat stomach and colon micronucleus (MN) tests with cell suspensions.•Stomach carcinogens MNU and MNNG gave positive results in the glandular stomach (GS).•A colon carcinogen DMH also did in the colon after oral treatment.•MNU showed positive in both the GS and bone marrow but MNNG only did in the GS.•These MN tests may be useful for evaluating the genotoxicity of orally exposed agents.

We have developed in vivo micronucleus (MN) tests by using an epithelial cell suspension isolated from the glandular stomach and colon of rodents. In the present study, our aim was to demonstrate the characteristics of the glandular stomach and colon MN tests by analyzing time-related changes in MN frequencies, apoptosis and cell proliferation in the target tissues of male CD (SD) rats that were orally administered a single dose of a stomach- or colon-targeted carcinogen, i.e., N-nitroso-N-methylurea (MNU) or N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) for the stomach and 1,2-dimethylhydrazine dihydrochloride (DMH) for the colon. After treatment, the MN frequencies significantly increased in the respective target tissues, peaking at 48–96 h and decreasing afterwards. The time-response pattern could be explained by the epithelial cell turnover confirmed with a labeling experiment using the thymidine analog, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU). In the study with MNU and DMH, we also prepared paraffin sections of the respective target tissues for the immunohistochemical evaluation of apoptosis and cell proliferation. The incidence of apoptosis increased in the early phase (6 and/or 24 h) after treatment, and then decreased. Cell proliferation was depressed when a high incidence of apoptosis was observed, and then it recovered until 72 h. MN frequencies increased with the recovery of cell proliferation occurring later than the peak apoptosis response. These results indicated that micronuclei were induced in the glandular stomach and colon epithelial cells by administration of the model chemicals.On the other hand, MNU induced significant increases of MNed cells in both the glandular stomach and bone marrow in the same rats, while MNNG did only in the glandular stomach when administered orally up to 1/4 of the LD50.These results suggest that the glandular stomach- and colon-MN tests would be useful for evaluating the genotoxicity of agents in the gastrointestinal tract.