DNA damage induced by nitrosated ranitidine in cultured mammalian cells

Ranitidine, a new H-2 receptor antagonist more potent than cimetidine in inhibiting gastric secretion, reacted under acid conditions with a twofold molar amount of nitrite (a nitrite/ranitidine ratio about 1000 times that likely to occur in gastric juice of treated humans) yielding a nitroso derivative capable of inducing a dose-dependent DNA fragmentation in cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells.