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It is well documented that damage to DNA could be very harmful for all cells and is the source of several consequences such as cancer development, apoptosis or genetic diseases. In contrast, RNA damage is a poorly examined field in biomedical research, despite its potential to affect cell physiology. For example, a significant loss of RNA integrity has been demonstrated in advanced human atherosclerotic plaques as compared with non-atherosclerotic mammary arteries, and oxidative RNA damage has been described in several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer disease. In the present study, we investigated whether RNA damage could be related to the exposure of particular xenobiotics and then we studied the potential protective activity of creatine against RNA-damaging activity of a series of chemicals with different mechanisms of action [ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), H(2)O(2), doxorubicin, spermine NONOate, S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP)]. Since the protective effect against RNA damage can be mediated by different mechanisms, such as alterations of the rates of toxic agent absorption and uptake, trapping of electrophiles as well as free radicals, and protection of nucleophilic sites in RNA, we used two different treatment protocols (pre- and co-treatment) for understanding the mechanism of the inhibitory activity of creatine. We demonstrated that total RNA is susceptible to chemical attack by doxorubicin, H(2)O(2), spermine and SNAP. Creatine significantly reduced the RNA-damaging activity of only two of the toxic tested agents (H(2)O(2) and doxorubicin), while it lacked activity in counterstaining the RNA damage induced by the NO donors spermine and SNAP. Its inhibitory activity could be at least partially dependent on its capacity to directly scavenge free radicals and/or to maintain phosphocreatine store and ATP regeneration.

Although chronic administration of procymidone (a widely used dicarboximide fungicide) leads to an increased incidence of liver tumors in mice, short-term genotoxicity studies proved negative. As cytochrome P450 (CYP) induction has been linked to non-genotoxic carcinogenesis, we investigated whether procymidone administration causes induction of CYP-dependent monooxygenases in liver, kidney and lung microsomes of male Swiss Albino CD1 mice after single or repeated (daily for three consecutive days) i.p. treatment with either 400 or 800 (1/10 or 1/20 of the DL(50)) mgkg(-1) b.w. procymidone. CYP content and CYP3A1/2, 1A1, 1A2, 2B1/2, 2E1, 2A, 2D9 and 2C11 supported oxidations were studied using either the regio- and stereo-selective hydroxylation of testosterone as multibiomarker or highly specific substrates as probes of various CYPs. While a single dose was uneffective, multiple procymidone administration lead to marked inductions of various monooxygenases: CYP3A1/2 in liver and lung (as measured by N-demethylation of aminopyrine and testosterone 6 beta-hydroxylase); CYP2E1 in liver (p-nitrophenol hydroxylation); CYP1A1 in liver and kidney (deethylation of ethoxyresorufin). Several hydroxylations were induced in the liver, including the CYP2A-linked 7 alpha (14-fold) as well as 6 alpha (22-fold), 6 beta, 16 beta and 2 beta hydroxylases. The pattern of inductions/suppressions recorded in the three different tissues suggests that procymidone exerts complex effects on the CYP profile. Tissue-specific trends included a large number of inductions in the liver and suppressions in the lung. The main inductions were corroborated by immunoblotting analyses and Northern blotting showed that inductions of CYP3A1/2, CYP2E1 and CYP1A1/2 were paralleled by increased mRNA levels. It was also found that CYP over-expression generates large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially in liver. These data may explain why in vitro short-term genotoxicity studies on procymidone were negative, whereas in vivo long-term carcinogenesis studies turned out positive: long-term CYP induction (e.g. oxygen centered free radicals over-production) can have a co-carcinogenic and/or promoting potential.

One of the major mechanism of chemical protection against mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and other forms of toxicity is the induction of phase-II metabolizing enzymes such as UDP-glucuronosyl transferases, glutathione S-transferases and NAD(P)H quinone reductase, or inhibition of typical phase-I reactions. The use of selective inducers of conjugating enzymes or inhibitors of CYP- and FAD-dependent monooxygenases revealed the possibility of reducing the expression of certain forms of malignancy. However, the use of some anti-initiating entities devised to reduce tumor initiation, seems to receive invalidated justification. Indeed, considering the double edge-sword nature (activating or detoxifying) of drug metabolizing enzymes as well as the myriad of xenobiotics to which human is exposed, any attempt to modulated such catalysts by dietary components (including drugs) could lead to an increased cancer risk. Paradoxically, it has been recently proposed the use of metabolizing liver preparations, isolated from phase-II induced rodents, as a novel bioactivating model in the field of genetic toxicology. Exogenous microsomal (S9) fraction prepared from 2-(3)- tert -butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA) (monofunctional post-oxidative inducer) treated mice are able to increase the DNA binding and genotoxic response of pre-mutagens. On the whole, the use of enzyme modulators in cancer chemoprevention, for their ability to simultaneously reduce or increase pre-carcinogen bioactivation, should be carefully reconsidered.

A new series of 4-nitro-(imidazoles and pyrazoles) were synthesized as novel antimycotics and tested for their activation to mutagenic forms using Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100, in the presence and in the absence of metabolic activation. TA100NR, TA100/1,8-DNP6, YG1026 and YG1029 strains were employed to identify a specific metabolic reaction which governs the mutagenic potency. Derivatives in the pyrazole group were generally found to be non mutagenic and active imidazoles were weak-direct-acting mutagens. For most of the compounds the mutagenic responses in TA98 were absent or 12- to 22-fold lower compared to TA100. The presence of a methyl or a benzylic group on the imidazole ring and substituents on the N1 and N3 positions were determinant for mutagenicity. Metabolism by bacterial enzyme systems was important to the expression of genotoxicity. Active compounds showed no mutagenicity toward the strain defective in classical nitroreductase and increased mutagenicity, from 2- to 7-fold depending on the test compound, toward the corresponding overproducing bacteria. On the other hand, compounds displayed reduced mutagenicity to the O-acetyltransferase strain without having increased activity in the corresponding overproducing bacteria, YG1029.