• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.269-275
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• 1998

The reporter plasmid pMT-lacZ containing the metallothionein (MT) promoter region (-320∼+58 with respect to the transcription initiation site) fused to the lacZ gene in a P-element vector was constructed. Transgenic Drosophila bearing the MT-lacZ fusion gene were established by P-element mediated transformation. Expression of the MT-lacZ fusion gene in transformants was examined during development. By treatment with low concentration of cadmium (>1O uM) or paraquat (>50 uM), increased expression of B-galactosidase was shown in fat body, brain lobe, and ganglion transgenic larval tissues. The results show that transformants bearing the MT-lacZ fusion gene are useful for further studies on the mechanism of regulation of MT gene expression and for monitoring toxic metals.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.455-463
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• 2011

Metallothioneins are a class of small cysteine-rich proteins that have been associated with increased tolerance to metal and oxidative stresses in animals, plants, and fungi. We investigated a metallothionein-like (mt-like) gene shown previously to be upregulated in fruiting bodies of the fungus Agaricus bisporus in response to post-harvest storage. Analysis of an A. bisporus genomic DNA cosmid library identified two similar mt-like genes (met1 and met2) arranged as a bidirectional gene pair transcribed from the same promoter region. The promoter contained regulatory elements including 9 metal responsive elements and a CAAT box region 220 bp downstream of met1 that showed striking similarity to a feature in Coprinopsis cinerea mt-like gene promoters. Transcriptional analysis showed that both met genes are significantly and rapidly (within 3 hours) upregulated during post-harvest storage and expression is significantly greater in stipe and cap tissues compared with the gills. However, a strong directionality of the promoter was demonstrated, as transcript levels of met1 were at least two orders of magnitude greater than those of met2 in all samples tested.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.13 no.1_2
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• pp.103-110
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• 1997

This study was performed to investigate the effects of cadmium chloride on the acute and chronic toxicity on rats. Several toxic effects of cadmium has been shown following short-term and longterm pretreatment with cadmium and zinc. Four groups of rats (A, B, C, D), each consisting of 16 rats, were studied and each group was divided into four subgroups (1, 2, 3, 4), 4 rats for each subgroup. Rats were subcutaneously pretreated with $CdCl_2$ (0.5 mg/kg, A & C), and $ZnCl_2$ (13.0 mg/kg, B & D) during time periods of 1 weeks (group A & B) and 6 weeks (group C & D). At the end of the period, rats were challenged with $CdCl_2$ (3.0, 6.0 and 9.0 mg/kg, i.p.). After giving the challenge dose, cadmium and metallothionein(MT) concentrations were determined. The concentrations of cadmium were higher in the liver than the kidney irrelevantly to cadmium and zinc pretreatment and increased dose-dependently to the challenge dosage. The metallothioneins showed higher concentrations in the liver than the kidney following cadmium pretreatment and were higher in the long-term pretreatment groups than the short-term pretreatment groups in the liver and the kidney of rats. These data suggest that metallothioneins are induced preferentially in the liver by pretreatment of cadmium and then, formed in the form of Cd-MT, may play an important role in the nephrotoxicity.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.36-39
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• 2003

Many defined cell culture media were formulated over 3() years ago and may be deficient in certain micronutrients whose essentiality has only subsequently been recognised. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether alpha-minimal essential medium (MEM) supplemented with 10% foetal bovine serum contained sufficient selenium for optimal activity of the selenium containing enzymes cytosolic glutathione peroxidase (cGPx) and phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) in cultured Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Additionally, the effect of zinc deficiency and metallothionein (MT) overexpression on cGPx and PHGPx activity was studied. The addition of 100 nM of selenous acid to the culture medium increased cGPx expression by 10-fold and PHGPx by about 2-fold in both wild-type CHO-K1 cells and CHO-K1 cells overexpressing mouse MT-1. Zinc deficiency had no significant effect on enzyme activity, but cells overexpressing mouse MT-1 had higher levels of cGPx activity. Zinc deficiency decreased cell survival but overexpression of MT-1 was partially protective, probably because its presence in quantity favoured the uptake, sequestration and cellular retention of any remaining zinc. This study demonstrates that selenium in complete alpha-MEM is insufficient for optimal cGPx and PHGPx activity and may compromise the cellular response to oxidative stress.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.95-104
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• 1992

The influence of selenium to several toxic effects of cadmum, including lethality has been shown following pretreatment with cadmium, zinc and seleniurm Five groups of rats, each consisting of 16 rats, were studied and each group was divided into four subgroups, 4 rats for each subgroup. After subcutaneous pretreatment during 5 days with saline, CdCl$_{2}$ (0.5mg/kg, ZnCl$_{2}$ (13.0mg/kg) and $Na_{2}SeO_{3}$(1.0mg/kg), rats were given intraperitioneal administration of various dosage of or cadium of cadmium and selenium. After giving the challenge dose, cadmium and metallothionein(MT) concentrations were determined in liver and kidney The concentration of cadmium in liver and kideny increased proportionally to the increase of challenge dosage. The simultaneous administration of cadmium and selenium significantly more decrease cadmium concentrations in liver and kidney than those of the administration of cadmium only. However, MT concentrations in liver and kideny were increased by the pretreatment of cacmium, zinc and selenium. Our results suggest that increasing cadmium concentrations, gradully accumulating in the tissues of liver and kidney as a result of the pretreatment, served to induced the synthesis of MT, thus making them resistant to the challenge from cadmium.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2002

Characteristics of cell growth and heavymetal adsorption by recombinant Saccharomyus cerevisiae strains harboring multiple copies of the CUP1 gene encoding metallothione (MT) protein were studied in batch cultures. Recombinant S. cerevisiae strains harboring multiple copies of the CUP1 gene were superior to the host and wild-type yeast strains in terms of cell growth and heavy metal removal, indicating that the copy number of the CUP1 gene for MT expression played an important role in the adsorption of heavy metals. It was suggested that the CUP1 promoter for the MT expression is induced by manganese and zinc as well as copper An optimum copper concentration for MT expression and concomitant adsorption of heavy metals by recombinant S. cerevisiae was found to be 0.31 mM. A nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 enhanced cell growth by 17.7% and removal of zinc by 6.1% compared with the control case.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.489-494
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• 2007

Transcriptional modulation of metallothionein (MT) during acute metal exposures (cadmium, copper or zinc) was examined in fry of Hemibarbus mylodon, a threatened fish species in Korean peninsula. Viability of H. mylodon fry was most affected by copper exposure (up to 79% of mortality at 1 ppm for 48 hours) and considerably by cadmium exposure (21 to 54% of mortality). On the other hand, Zn showed the least adverse effect on the viability (0 to 13% of mortality) of this species. Based on the semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis, the stimulation of MT mRNA in response to metal exposures followed generally in a dose-dependent fashion where cadmium was the most potent inducer for the induction of MT transcripts in fry (up to more than 5-fold) while the lowest response was observed in zinc-exposed group (2-fold at maximum). From the exposure using environmentally realistic doses of cadmium (0 to 0.05 ppm for 24 hours), MT expression at mRNA level was also sensitively modulated toward upregulation up to more than 3-fold as relative to non-exposed control. Results from the present study would be a good basis for understanding the adaptive capacity and stress physiology of this endangered fish species during metal pollution.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.276-282
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• 2004

Marginal Zn deficiency is prevalent through the world and yet human zinc status has not been properly assessed due to the lack of a reliable diagnostic indicator. One potential possibility for zinc status assessment using Zn-binding protein, metallothionein (MT)-mRNA, has been proposed. The purpose of the present study was aimed to show whether measurement of mononuclear cell (MNC) MT mRNA, using a competitive-reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (competitive-RT-PCR) assay, could indicate zinc status in human subjects. In this study, MNC MT-mRNA expression was measured using a competitive-RT-PCR to compare before and after 14 days of zinc supplementation (50 mg Zn/das zinc gluconate). RT-PCR oligonucleotide primers which were designed to amplify both a 278 bp segment of the human MT-2A cDNA and a 198 bp mutant competitor cDNA template from MNCs, were prepared. MT-2A mRNA was normalized by reference to the housekeeping gene, $\beta$-actin, mRNA for which was also measured by competitive-RT-PCR. There was considerable inter-individual variation in MT-mRNA concentration and yet, the mean MT-2A mRNA level increased 4.7-fold after Zn supplementation, as compared to before Zn supplementation. This MT-2A mRNA level was shown as the same pattern and, even more sensitive assay, compared to the conventional plasma and red blood cells (RBCs) Zn assessment in which plasma and RBCs zinc levels increased 2.3- and 1.2-fold, respectively (p<0.05). We suggest that MT competitive-RT-PCR can be a useful assessment tool for evaluating human zinc status.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.389-399
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• 2004

Metallothionein (MT), a small protein molecule which can bind or release metal ions, is involved in the regulation of cellular metal homeostasis. This study was investigated the accumulation of cadmium in blood, tissue (liver, kidney and brain), and the effect of cadmium on several key genes (MT-I, MT-II, ZnT-1) in zinc metabolism in the mouse. Mouses weighing 20∼25 g were randomly assigned to control and cadmium treated group (Cd group). Cd group was intraperitoneally injected with cadmium 2, 4, 8 mg/kg and control group was administerd with saline. Mouses of each group were sacrificed by decapitation 4 hours after the administration of cadmium. Cadmium contents in blood, liver, kidney and brain were increased by a dose-dependent manner. Accumulation of cadmium was mainly occurred in liver and kidney. Induction of MT-I and MT-II protein was increased, but ZnT-1 expression was decreased in a dose-dependent manner by the treatment of 2∼8 mg/kg cadmium. These results suggested that cadmium can be transported to brain and alter the expression of several key genes in zinc homeostasis.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.156-163
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• 1993

This study was carried out to investigate accumulation of metallothionein(MT) in rat liver and kidney by cadmium administration. After male rats of Sprague-Dawley strain weighing 60$\pm$5g were fed basal diet ad libitum for 4 weeks, two types of experiments were performed. In the first set of experiment, rats were divided into five groups. Control groups was fed basal diet without injection of cadmium. Dose groups of A, B, C and D were i.p. injected 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5mg Cd/Kg of body wt, once a day for two days. In the second set of experiment, rats were also divided into five groups. Control group was fed basal diet without injection of cadmium. Number groups of I, II, III and IV were i.p. injected 1, 2, 3, and 4 times every 24hrs, respectively and injection doses were 2.5mg Cd/Kg of body wt. in a day. In the first of experiment, hemoglobin contents in C, D groups were lower than control group. MT concentrations in liver and kidney were increased with increasing Cd injection doses to 2.5mg Cd/Kg of body wt. Liver - SH group values in C, D groups were higher than control group. Hematocrit values did not differ among groups. In the second of experiment, hemoglobin contents and hematocrit values were decreased. MT concentration in liver and kidney were progressively increased with increasing number of Cd injection. In both sets of experiments, liver MT concentrations were higher than kidney.