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We have studied the formation and repair of cisplatin-DNA adducts in wild-type mouse leukemia L1210/0 cells and in the sublines L1210/2 and L1210/5, which differ in cisplatin sensitivity. In a colony-formation assay these sublines were 9- and 22-fold more resistant compared to L1210/0, respectively. Cisplatin-induced DNA modification was studied at the cellular level by immunocytochemistry with antiserum NKI-A59 raised against cisplatin-treated DNA. Levels of nuclear staining immediately after a 1-h treatment were similar to those seen after a 24-h post-incubation in drug-free medium. Clear differences in DNA platination were found between the cell lines: immediately after exposure, L1210/2 and L1210/5 showed only 32 and 14%, respectively, of the nuclear staining observed in L1210/0, and 48 and 13% after 24 h. In these experiments, adduct-specific nuclear staining was quantified as the area under the adduct versus concentration curves (AUC). The formation and repair in these cell lines of the bifunctional adducts cis-Pt(NH3)2d(pGpG) (Pt-GG), cis-Pt(NH3)2d(pApG) (Pt-AG) and cis-Pt(NH3)2(dGMP)2 (G-Pt-G) were studied with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). No relation between repair and resistance was observed. The results suggest that differences in induced DNA platination levels, rather than in repair, are responsible--at least in part--for the differences in cisplatin resistance. A mechanism such as an increased tolerance of the resistant cells to plantinum-DNA damage may also be involved.

DNA adduct analysis is often used for biomonitoring individuals exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The 32P-postlabeling assay is routinely applied to study the formation of aromatic bulky adducts, but cannot positively identify individual adduct types. Recently, an HPLC assay with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) was developed which was sufficiently sensitive to detect adducts formed by benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) diolepoxide isomers [(+/-)anti- and (+/-)syn-BPDE] in occupationally exposed subjects (Rojas et al. Carcinogenesis, 16 (1995) 1373-1376). In this study, we compared both techniques using DNA samples of rats which were treated i.p. with B[a]P (10 mg/kg bw). The internal dose was assessed by measuring 3-OH-B[a]P excretion in urine. The detection limit of the HPLC-FD assay varied from 0.5 to 7.4 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides, while the detection limit of the 32P-postlabeling assay was around 1 adduct per 10(9) nucleotides. HPLC-FD analysis showed that BPDE-DNA adduct levels were highest in the heart, lung and liver respectively. The most predominant B[a]P-tetrol was the I-1 isomer, which derives from hydrolysis of the major reaction product of DNA and (+)-anti-BPDE. 32P-postlabeling analysis revealed an adduct spot that comigrated with a [3H]BPDE-DNA standard. The putative BPDE-DNA adduct levels were highest in heart followed by lung and liver and correlated significantly with tetrol I-1 levels determined by HPLC-FD (r = 0.72, P = 0.006). In samples in which both tetrol I-1 and II-2 were detected by means of HPLC-FD, this correlation was even better (r = 0.95, P = 0.01). Estimated half-lives of BPDE-DNA adducts were in the ranking order; heart, lung and liver for both techniques. By 32P-postlabeling, adducts other than BPDE-DNA were also found, resulting in highest total DNA adduct levels in the liver, heart and lung respectively. Furthermore, mean 24 h urinary excretion of 3-OH-B[a]P was related to BPDE-DNA adduct levels in lung, liver and heart. The 32P-postlabeling assay is sensitive and capable of detecting exposures to complex mixtures, whereas the HPLC-FD assay can be used to identify BPDE-isomers and might therefore be of value in risk assessment of individuals exposed to PAH.

Effects of diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) on the sedimentation pattern of [3H]thymidine-labelled Sprague-Dawley female rat liver DNA in alkaline sucrose gradients were studied with regard to time and dose dependency. In experiments at 1--56 days after a single injection it was observed that (potential) single strand breaks induced by DEN were repaired at a low rate. At 56 days the sedimentation pattern was still grossly abnormal. Half-life values of 27 and 46 days were observed after 134 mg/kg DEN (approx. 45% of the LD50) and 13.4 mg/kg DEN, respectively. Identical experiments after DMN (10 mg/kg, corresponding to about 35% of the LD50) showed return to (almost) completely control sedimentation patterns within 56 days after injection (t 1/2 = 8 days). Experiments at 6 or 56 days after the last of a series of 5 or 10 weekly injections of DEN (13.4 mg/kg) showed that a major part of DEN-induced damage (measured as single strand breaks) is of a persistent and accumulating character. No accumulation of DMN-induced rat liver lesions was observed. It is concluded that DNA fragmentation and lack of DNA repair is not a consequence of hepatotoxicity. Since at equimolar doses DEN gives appreciably less DNA alkylation (including O6-alkylguanine) but is much more effective both as an inducer of preneoplastic liver lesions and as a hepatocarcinogen when compared with DMN, we believe that the formation of persistent (and accumulating) DNA damage after DEN administration might be relevant in the process of liver tumour formation.

Rat-liver DNA alkylation by diethylnitrosamine (DEN), dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) and ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) was studied in an attempt to relate chromosome-damaging effects of these agents (the formation of micronuclei in hepatocytes; see preceding paper) to specific alkylation patterns. No correlation was observed between the induction of micronuclei and liver DNA N-alkylation, measured as 3- and 7-alkyl-purines. O6-Alkylguanine is probably not involved in micronucleus induction because it is lost from DNA too rapidly to explain the much more persistent clastogenic effects. In contrast, both the initial amounts of alkylphosphotriesters and the persistencies of these products roughly paralleled the respective effects on micronucleus induction. The possible involvement of alkylphosphotriesters or other O-alkylation products of comparable stabilities is discussed. Results with DMN suggest that part of the primary DNA methylation damage is converted into a secondary (DNA) lesion and that both the primary and secondary lesion(s) contribute to the process of micronucleus formation.