Analysis of bases of rat-liver nucleic acids after administration of the carcinogen dimethylnitrosamine

Dimethylnitrosamine is metabolized to form an alkylating intermediate, which may have significance for its carcinogenic action. However, certain other compounds that are known to be highly mutagenic, including nitrous acid and hydroxylamine, might also be formed. Owing to the general reactivity of these compounds, it would be difficult to detect their formation in the intact animal. Instead, the nucleic acids of carcinogen-treated animals were examined for products of reaction with nitrous acid and hydroxylamine, i.e. for deamination of adenine and guanine, and formation of N(6)-hydroxycytosine, respectively. A double-labelling technique was used to detect very small amounts of the abnormal bases. The purine moieties of DNA in adult rat liver were labelled either with (14)C or with (3)H, by treating the neonatal animals with (14)C]formate or with (3)H]formate, and then allowing a period for normal growth. During this time, in liver, the labels were largely lost by metabolic turnover from cell components other than DNA. The pyrimidine moieties in DNA were labelled by treating the neonatal animals with (14)C]orotate. The purine constituents of RNA of adult rat liver were labelled by repeated administration of (14)C]- or (3)H]-formate to the adult rats. The (14)C]nucleic acid-labelled rat could then be treated with the carcinogen, and the (3)H]nucleic acid-labelled animal could be used as a control. By this means the experimental and control tissues could be homogenized together in a single preparation, and the nucleic acids from the two tissues could be isolated, hydrolysed and analysed in a single sample. It was therefore possible to have an internal control for artifacts due to changes taking place in the nucleic acid bases during the experimental procedures. With this technique, the formation in vivo of 7-methylguanine in rat-liver DNA and RNA after administration of dimethylnitrosamine was confirmed, and no evidence was found for the formation of xanthine, hypoxanthine, N(6)-hydroxycytosine, or any other abnormal base.