Acridine-induced subcellular and functional changes in isolated human hepatocytes in vitro

Acridines are nucleic acid intercalating compounds with properties relating to the complexity of their structure. Tetrahydroaminoacridine (tacrine, Cognex®), a simple acridine, is a reversible inhibitor of cholinesterase activity available for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Tacrine therapy causes sporadic elevations of aminotransferases in humans, and tacrine alters protein synthesis and ribosomal structure under short‐term in vitro exposures in isolated hepatocytes from humans and other species. There is no clear relationship between transaminase elevation and liver damage in humans, and prolonged drug exposure to animals does not result in hepatic insult. Subcellular alterations have been described in isolated human and rodent hepatocytes, including degranulation and vesiculation of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), aggregation of electron‐dense structures within the ER, altered nuclei and nucleoli and detrimental structural and functional effects to mitochondria. Whether these changes in hepatocyte morphology and function are unique to tacrine or not is unknown, as human hepatocytes exposed to more complex acridines have not been characterized. In this study, we extended the results of in vitro studies with tacrine to acridine orange, 9‐aminoacridine, quinacrine and proflavin. In primary human hepatocytes, these compounds caused a similar reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential with parallel ultrastructural changes. The 1‐hydroxy and 7‐hydroxy tacrine metabolites, acridine hydrochloride and acridine 9‐carboxylic acid, and the non‐acridine cholinesterase inhibitor eserine, did not induce characteristic subcellular ER changes but damaged mitochondria structure, reduced mitochondrial membrane potential and were cytotoxic. These data indicate that the tacrine‐like subcellular changes in hepatocytes are reproducible with other acridines and cause mitochondrial dysfunction in human hepatocytes. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.