Genotoxic potential of psoralen cross-links versus monoadducts in normal human lymphoblasts

Using the 4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen in combination with the reirradiation protocol, we show that, in normal human lymphoblasts, the cytotoxic potential of photoinduced cross-links (CL) is higher than that of monoadducts (MA). In contrast to cytotoxicity, the significant increase in the proportion of CL, at a constant level of total adducts, had no effect on the induction of mutations at the HPRT locus. Comparison with the data obtained in yeast and rodent cells using the same double irradiation protocol shows that the mutagenic potential of CL versus MA varies between species. This suggests that the equilibrium between the excision, the recombinational and the mutagenic components of the repair pathways which probably determine the mutagenic efficiency of CL versus MA is likely to be species-dependent.