[3H]1-Nitropyrene was administered at a dose of 25 mg/kg by i.p. injection to female Wistar rats. Animals were killed 24 h later and DNA was isolated from kidney, liver and mammary gland, enzymically hydrolysed and analysed by reverse-phase h.p.l.c. A major adduct peak was detected in DNA from each of the three organs. Enzymic hydrolysates of DNA, which had been reacted in vitro with 1-nitropyrene in the presence of xanthine oxidase, were similarly analysed by h.p.l.c. One major adduct peak was obtained which had the same retention time as the in vivo product. Confirmatory evidence that the in vivo adduct and the in vitro adduct were structurally similar was obtained from the determination of the pH-dependent solvent partitioning profiles. Further, treatment of the in vivo adduct from liver, kidney or mammary gland DNA hydrolysates and the in vitro adduct with sodium hydroxide resulted in the formation of a more polar product which eluted earlier on h.p.l.c. This behaviour is consistent with scission of the imidazole ring of a deoxyguanosine adduct. The major DNA adduct formed in vitro following xanthine oxidase reduction of 1-nitropyrene has previously been identified by others as N-(deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-1-aminopyrene. The present data suggest that the in vivo 1-nitropyrene-DNA adduct has the same structure.

A newborn mouse (BLU:Ha) lung adenoma bioassay demonstrated that 6-nitrochrysene was a highly potent tumorigen. It induced 100% incidence of lung tumors and a 150-fold increase in their number (20.84 tumors/mouse) at the lowest dose level tested (total dose: 38.5 micrograms/mouse). 70% of the 6-nitrochrysene treated mice had malignant lung tumors (adenocarcinomas). Lymphomas and nodular hyperplasia of the liver were also observed in treated, but not control, animals. The tumorigenicity of 6-nitrochrysene relative to other polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and their mononitro-derivatives has been discussed.

No abstract

Snow and air particulate samples collected in Upper Frankonia, Federal Republic of Germany, have been analyzed for nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and PAH content. A novel clean-up technique has been developed enabling interfering organochlorine environmental contaminants to be removed prior to analysis of the hydrocarbons by GC-MS. Mass fragmentation patterns are presented for 1-nitropyrene, 6-nitrobenzo(a)pyrene, 6-nitrochrysene, and 3-nitrofluoranthene. The level of these compounds found in air samples was in the range of 0.2-2.0 ng.m-3 with the exception of 6-nitrobenzo(a)pyrene, which was not detected. This compares with PAH values of between 1 and 6 ng.m-3. The freshly fallen snow sample collected at the side of a motorway had no detectable PAHs or nitro-PAHs. Parallel studies on the bacterial mutagenicity of the collected air samples using Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 in the presence and absence of aroclor-induced rat liver "S9" revealed both "direct" and "indirect" activity. Larger numbers of mutants were induced in the presence of S9 than in its absence. The snow sample was devoid of mutagenic activity. These studies show the utility of the biological approach to screen environmental samples prior to expensive and time-consuming chemical analysis.