Signaling pathways after 30 minutes and 4 hours treatment with 500 μM Na2S in intestinal epithelial cells

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a metabolic endproduct of sulfate-reducing bacteria in the large intestine, represents a genotoxic insult to the colonic epithelium, which may also be linked with chronic disorders such as ulcerative colitis and colorectal cancer. The present study defined the early (30 minutes) and late (4 hours) response of non-transformed human intestinal epithelial cells (FHs 74 Int) to sulfide. We measured the genotoxicity of Na2S using the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay. Changes in gene expression were analyzed after exposure to a genotoxic–but not cytotoxic–concentration of sulfide (500 μM Na2S) using pathway specific quantitative RT-PCR gene arrays 12 Samples were analysed using the Superarray Signal Transduction PathwayFinder APHS-014b QRT-PCR array. The cells were treated for either 30 minutes or 4 hours with 500 μM Na2S (6 samples for each time). For each time we had 3 samples as a control (no Na2S) 3 samples treated (500 μM Na2S)