Sister chromatid exchange induced by etheno-ATP derivatives in vitro

Genotoxic activities of a series of commercially purchased 1,N6-ethenoadenosine (epsilon-Ado) and epsilon-deoxyadenosine (epsilon-dAdo) derivatives were assessed using the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) assay in murine spleen lymphocytes in vitro. Of the epsilon-Ado adducts evaluated for SCE induction epsilon-ATP and epsilon-dATP were highly active (5x baseline) SCE inducers over a concentration range of 50-150 microM. Moderate SCE-inducing activities were seen with epsilon-dAdo, epsilon-A, and epsilon-AMP. epsilon-A was of particular interest in that spleen lymphocytes from a single mouse were highly sensitive to SCE (greater than 50 SCE/cell at 75 microM). epsilon-Ado was weakly effective and epsilon-ADP and epsilon-dAMP did not produce significantly elevated SCEs. Cocanavalin A-stimulated T-lymphocytes and lipopolysaccharide-stimulated B-lymphocytes exhibited comparable SCE responses to epsilon-A, epsilon-AMP, and epsilon-dATP. However, B-lymphocytes were considerably less sensitive than T-lymphocytes to epsilon-dAdo and epsilon-ATP. Evaluation of the purities of specific epsilon-Ado derivatives, as performed by high-performance liquid chromatography and thin layer chromatography, failed to detect potential contaminants as cytogenetically active agents. However, a difference (about threefold) in cytogenetic activities of two lot numbers of epsilon-ATP paralleled the difference in UV absorbance of quivalent concentrations (mg/ml), prepared according to the manufacturers stated purity. Any impurities likely to be present were consistent with inactive nonchromophoric compounds such as buffer salts. Because of the direct genotoxic activity of epsilon-A in intact mammalian cells, we suggest that intracellular adenylate pools, including the prominent ubiquitous nucleotide ATP, are non-DNA targets for epsilon-modification by active metabolites and the resulting epsilon-adducts are likely to be active moieties in SCE induction and in neoplastic transformation produced by ethyl carbamate.