Dihydropyrazines (DHPs) revealed the single strand-cleavage 1) of covalently closed circular DNA of plasmid pBR322, especially in the presence of Cu 2ϩ . This cleavage was determined to be initiated by the radical species generated from DHPs. Therefore, further investigation of the reactivity of DHPs continues our laboratory.DNA damage is closely related to the variety of biological phenomena such as mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, aging and radiation effects. A better understanding of the mechanism of the biological effects caused by DHPs is of great interest, because DHPs were derived from sugar and universally existed in human body, and consequently might caused various internal injuries in vivo.2) The chemical reactivity 3,4) and the biological effects 2,5) of DHPs have been elucidated. The electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum of DHPs showed the cogeneration of four radical species 6) such as · OH, · OOH, · CHR 2 and · CR 3 at the same time. Furthermore, the specificity 7) of the nucleotide sequence DNA strand cleavage sites produced by DHPs has been identified. However, whether oxygen radica'ls or carbon-centered radicals (C-radicals) primarily involved in the DNA strand-cleavage remains unclear. There are a number of reports of DNA strand-cleavage due to reactive oxygen species, including hydroxyl radical, however, there have been few reports related to C-radical. [8][9][10][11] The DNA damage caused by the copper-peroxide complex provides a unique example. 12) Herein, we use the results of DNA strand-cleavage activity and the ESR spectra with a spin-trapping agent to propose that the radical species that attacked the DNA strand formed 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Synthesis of Dihydropyrazine DerivativesThe dihydropyrazine derivatives ( Fig. 1) employed were all synthesized by condensation of diketones and diamines. 2,3-Dihydro-5,6-dimethylpyrazine (DHP-1), 2,3-dihydro-2,5,6-trimethylpyrazine (DHP-2) and 3-hydro-2,2,5,6-tetramethylpyrazine (DHP-3) were synthesized by the method of Yamaguchi et al. 1) 2,3,-Dihydro-5-methy, 6-phenylpyrazine 13) (DHP-4) was also synthesized by similar method.Assay of DNA Strand-Breaking Activity The method of assaying the DNA strand-cleavage activity of DHPs, using a covalently closed circular duplex DNA of plasmid pBR32 (ccc-DNA) was previously described. 14)ESR Spectroscopy of Dihydropyrazines The ESR spectra were recorded on a JES-FA200 spectrometer (JEOL Co., Tokyo) using a Mn 2ϩ marker as an external standard, and an ES-LC12 flat cell (JEOL Co., Tokyo). The spectra were measured in a 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.1) using 5,5-dimethy-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) as a spin trapping agent, according to previous paper. 6) The relative values were summarized in Table 3. The instrumental condition were: field center 335.9 mT, scan width Ϯ5 mT, modulation frequency 100 kHz, modulation width 0.14 mT, time constant 0.3 s, amplitude 7ϫ100, microwave power 10 mW, and microwave frequency 9.427 GHz. The spectra were recorded at 30 min after mixing.The Measureme...