Several metals are known mutagens and carcinogens. These metals effectively displace acridine orange from DNA when measured by fluorescence polarization. Displacement of 50% of the acridine orange is obtained with less than 0.5 mM concentrations of lead, manganese, cobalt, zinc, cadmium, nickel, iron, copper, and cis-platinum. In contrast, greater than 80 mM concentrations of lithium, sodium, and potassium are required to displace an equivalent amount of acridine orange from calf thymus DNA. Although cis-platinum shows the best DNA reactivity in this assay, the interaction between this metal and DNA does not occur immediately, as it does for the other metals tested. These results indicate the acridine orange displacement assay provides a relative measure of the interaction of metals with DNA, and this DNA reactivity shows a positive correlation with mutagenic/carcinogenic potential.

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