Genotoxic, cytotoxic and apoptotic potential of streptozotocin

Streptozotocin (STZ) is an antibiotic with broad spectrum activity, expressed by a gram-positive bacterium called "Streptomyces acromogenes" that lives in the soil. STZ was discovered in 1959 and in 1963 diabetic effect was discovered and then it was used as a diabetes inducing agent in experimental animals and preclinical studies. In this study, the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of STZ in the acute and midvalent brain cortex, sciatic nerve and liver tissues were investigated at the same time with apoptotic potential. Cell culture studies were carried out under toxicity tests and IC50 values were calculated on A549, MCF-7, Hec-293, PC3, U87MG, MPanc-96, HeLa and CaCo-2 cell lines. Genotoxic effects of STZ were determined by AMES test for doses of 10, 5, 1 and 0.5 μg. 40 Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups, STZ (n = 20) and control (n = 20). The STZ group was administered intraperitoneally at 50 mg / kg STZ (0.05 M citrate buffer, pH: 4.5). The control group was exposed only saline application. At 24 hours, 1, 2 and 4 weeks after the application, 5 rats from each group were sacrificed and the tissues were removed under anesthesia. Histological evaluation was performed on liver, brain and sciatic nerve tissues from rats and it was determined that the most affected tissue was sciatic nerve. In addition, the Roche Light Cycler® 480 II system identified seven gene expression profiles associated with apoptosis in each cell line. With the data obtained in this study, it was aimed to reveal the effects of STZ administration in rats on the nervous system, liver and brain cortex in the acute-middle stage. According to our findings, STZ exposure increases tissue damage caused by diabetes. The introduction of biochemical changes induced by STZ is important and necessary for this reason in the cellular and physiological sense. Key words: Streptozotocin, Apoptosis, Toxicity, Brain, Liver.