n(7)-hydroxyethylguanine and 6-hydroxyethylguanine

Young adult male Lewis rats were exposed to ethylene oxide (EO) via single intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections (10-80 mg kg-1) or drinking water (4 weeks at concentrations of 2, 5, and 10 mM) or inhalation (50, 100 or 200 ppm for 4 weeks, 5 days week-1, 6 h day-1) to measure induction of HPRT mutations in lymphocytes from spleen by means of a cloning assay. N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) and N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-nitrosourea (HOENU) were used as positive controls. Levels of N-(2-hydroxyethyl)valine (HOEtVal) adducts in haemoglobin (expressed in nmol g-1 globin) were measured to determine blood doses of EO (mmol kg-1 h, mM h). Blood doses were used as a common denominator for comparison of mutagenic effects of EO administered via the three routes. The mean HPRT mutant frequency (MF) of the historical control was 4.3 x 10(-6). Maximal mean MFs for ENU (100 mg kg-1) and HOENU (75 mg kg-1) were 243 x 10(-6) and 93 x 10(-6), respectively. In two independent experiments, EO injections led to a statistically significant dose-dependent induction of mutations, with a maximal increase in MF by 2.3-fold over the background. Administration of EO via drinking water gave statistically significant increases of MFs in two independent experiments. Effects were, at most, 2.5-fold above the concurrent control. Finally, inhalation exposure also caused a statistically significant maximal increase in MF by 1.4-fold over the background. Plotting of mutagenicity data (i.e., selected data pertaining to expression times where maximal mutagenic effects were found) for the three exposure routes against blood dose as common denominator indicated that, at equal blood doses, acute i.p. exposure led to higher observed MFs than drinking water treatment, which was more mutagenic than exposure via inhalation. In the injection experiments, there was evidence for a saturation of detoxification processes at the highest doses. This was not seen after subchronic administration of EO. The resulting HPRT mutagenicity data suggest that EO is a relatively weak mutagen in T-lymphocytes of rats following exposure(s) by i.p. injection, in drinking water or by inhalation.

Topics: Administration, Inhalation; Administration, Oral; Animals; Carcinogens; Chromosome Aberrations; DNA Adducts; Erythrocytes; Ethylene Oxide; Ethylnitrosourea; Guanine; Hemoglobins; Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Lymphocytes; Male; Micronucleus Tests; Mutation; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Sister Chromatid Exchange; Spleen

Evidence at the molecular level is presented in support of alkylation of O6-guanine moieties of DNA as the mechanism of cytotoxicity of Clomesone to HT-29 cells and consists in the isolation and identification of a product resulting from alkylation of calf thymus DNA with Clomesone, followed by depurination to yield 7-(2-hydroxyethyl)guanine, whose formation is reasonably explained by O6-guanine chloroethylation followed by intramolecular alkylation at N7 of guanine and subsequent hydrolysis to the hydroxyethylguanine.

Topics: Alkylation; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Cattle; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; DNA; Guanine; Hydrolysis; Mesylates; Methylation; Thymus Gland

O6-Hydroxyethylguanine has been synthesized by reaction of mono-sodium glycolate with 6-chloroguanine. The crystalline product has been characterized using a variety of analytical techniques and compared with a sample of the corresponding N7-hydroxyethyl derivative. These 2 chemicals may prove useful as standards when studying the reaction of ethylene oxide (EO) with DNA.

Topics: Chemical Phenomena; Chemistry; DNA; Ethylene Oxide; Guanine; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry; Mutagens