Effect of bacitracin on erythroid differentiation of MEL cells

Bacitracin, an antibiotic widely utilized in clinical and veterinary use, was tested on murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells. Tests were performed to evaluate the capacity of the drug to interfere with erythroid differentiation. Cells were exposed to a single treatment in S phase at sublethal doses of bacitracin. Two responses were found depending on the drug concentration. At higher concentrations (25 μg/ml and 250 ng/ml) a reduction in number of differentiating cells was observed but the kinetics of the process remained unchanged. At lower concentrations (from 2.5 ng/ml to 2.5 fg/ml) a dramatic alteration of the dynamic of differentiation was found. These two responses are related to different activities of the DNA repair mechanisms. Higher doses of bacitracin stimulate repair while lower concentrations are not able to activate repair, as demonstrated by tests with hydroxyurea. The bacitracin-induced damage can be considered a stable genetic and/or epigenetic alteration, as demonstrated by the high frequency of mutant clones isolated from low-dose treated cells. The suitability of MEL cells system in evaluating genotoxicity of drugs for veterinary use is underlined.