Non-additive hepatic gene expression elicited by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB153) co-treatment in C57BL/6 mice.

Interactions between environmental contaminants can lead to non-additive effects that may affect the toxicity and risk assessment of a mixture. Comprehensive time course and dose–response studies with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), non-dioxin-like 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB153) and their mixture were performed in immature, ovariectomized C57BL/6 mice. Mice were gavaged once with 30μg/kg TCDD, 300mg/kg PCB153, a mixture of 30μg/kg TCDD with 300mg/kg PCB153 (MIX) or sesame oil vehicle for 4,12, 24,72 or 168h. In the 24h dose–response study, animals were gavaged with TCDD (0.3,1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 30, 45μg/kg), PCB153 (3,10, 30, 60, 100, 150, 300, 450mg/kg), MIX (0.3+3, 1+10, 3+30, 6+60, 10+100, 15+150, 30+300, 45μg/kg TCDD+450mg/kg PCB153, respectively) or vehicle. All three treatments significantly increased relative liver weights (RLW), with MIX eliciting significantly greater increases compared to TCDD and PCB153 alone. Histologically, MIX induced hepatocellular hypertrophy, vacuolization, inflammation, hyperplasia and necrosis, a combination of TCDD and PCB153 responses. Complementary lipid analyses identified significant increases in hepatic triglycerides in MIX and TCDD samples, while PCB153 had no effect on lipids. Hepatic PCB153 levels were also significantly increased with TCDD co-treatment. Microarray analysis identified 167 TCDD, 185 PCB153 and 388 MIX unique differentially expressed genes. Statistical modeling of quantitative real-time PCR analysis of Pla2g12a, Serpinb6a, Nqo1, Srxn1, and Dysf verified non-additive expression following MIX treatment compared to TCDD and PCB153 alone. In summary, TCDD and PCB153 co-treatment elicited specific non-additive gene expression effects that are consistent with RLW increases, histopathology, and hepatic lipid accumulation.