A relationship found between intra-oral sites of 4NQO reductase activity and chemical carcinogenesis

Abstract. Topical application on rat oral mucosa of the chemical 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO) has been shown to produce squamous cell carcinomas on the posterior tongue and/or the posterior hard palate. 4NQO is broken down in vivo by a diaphorase, 4NQO reductase (E.C.1.6.99.2), to produce an active molecule believed to be responsible for carcinogenesis. It has been shown that there are higher concentrations of 4NQO reductase in oesophageal mucosa compared with elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract. The purpose of these experiments was to compare the distribution of certain diaphorases in the oral mucosa. Samples of rat tongue and cheek epithelia were homogenized, then ultracentrifuged to provide mixed cytosol and microsome fractions from the epithelial cells. A spectrophotometer was used to measure the variation in absorbance at 340 nm of NADH consumed by reduction of 4NQO by enzymes present in the tissue extracts. A histochemical technique was used to compare the activity of NADH diaphorase, NADP diaphorase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase at different sites of the oral mucosa. Statistical analysis showed that there were significant ( P < 0–01) differences between the activities of all three enzymes at different sites of the oral mucosa. In each case, a higher activity was found at the sites of high incidence of squamous cell carcinoma. A lower activity was found at sites where carcinomas did not occur.