Separation of 32P-labelled nucleoside 3',5'-bisphosphate adducts by HPLC

Relatively few reported attempts have been made to substitute HPLC for the thin-layer ion-exchange chromatography (TLC) conventionally used in the 32P-postlabelling assay. Using a reverse-phase phenyl-modified silica gel column and a gradient of methanol in 0.5 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 2.0), we were able to improve the resolution of very similar adducts. Combined with on-line detection of Cerenkov radiation, this method allows separation of sub-femtomole quantities of 32P-labelled nucleoside 3',5'-bisphosphates modified by bulky carcinogens. Using this method, we were able to separate nine of the ten major adducts formed by reaction of the diol-epoxides of ten polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with DNA, and resolve different adducts formed by a single carcinogen. The major adducts formed by benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF) or dibenz[a,h]anthracene in mouse skin in vivo have been shown to be distinct from the adducts formed directly by the bay-region diol-epoxides. The heterocyclic amines IQ and MeIQ have each been shown to form one major DNA adduct in several in vitro and in vivo systems; using HPLC we were able to resolve the two adducts formed by these food mutagens. HPLC is especially useful for the identification of adducts by means of chromatographic comparisons and in the analysis of the multiple adducts formed by complex mixtures of environmental carcinogens. The major adducts formed by benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and BbF in mouse skin in vivo that were not resolved on TLC were well separated by HPLC and thus a major DNA adduct formed in the skin of mice treated topically with coal tar was found to be derived from BaP rather than BbF.