Translational Technologies and Resources

DNA Damage and Toxicology

The DNA Damage and Toxicology Core provides expertise/instrumentation to perform DNA damage and toxicology studies related to toxic or hypoxic tissue/cell injury in drug development, diseases or aging. In addition to offering standard assays for cytotoxicity (e.g., TUNEL or Comet assays), the facility helps investigators measure oxidative damage and quantify levels of apoptosis and necrosis in cells and tissues by using quantitative cytochemistry, immuno-cytochemistry techniques, and 3-D imaging.

What links DNA damage and toxicology? The mechanisms of toxic tissue injury and cell death underlie numerous human diseases, effects of pharmaceutical drugs and environmental toxins. These mechanisms are complex, and they vary upon the tissue structure, its vascularization, spectrum of cell death proteins, nature of damaging agent, the strength, length and frequency of the exposure to the injury, and many other factors. Accordingly, cell death can take forms of apoptosis, necrosis, autophagy, or mitotic catastrophe, as well as some intermediate or more specific forms of cell death including aponecrosis, oncosis, anoikis, or abortosis. To approach this complexity, the best strategy for assessment of toxic tissue injury would include the use of (a) common methods that would occur in all injuries independently of causes, mechanisms or the origin of tissue, (b) methods that would be quantitative, and (c) approaches that would allow, if necessary, combining observations with other methods to determine the mechanism of cell injury and death. DNA fragmentation (accumulation of unprepared double-stranded DNA breaks) is a form of DNA damage, which indicates that cell death reached the point-of-no-return and became irreversible. DNA fragmentation is a hallmark of all types of cell death regardless of the mechanism. To determine the mechanisms and molecules involved in cell death, DNA fragmentation assays can be easily combined with immunocytochemistry.

Our customers are investigators from UAMS and outside institutions.

Location: the Core is located on the 3d floor of the Biomed-1 building, in room B324.