Styrene oxide-induced 2'-deoxycytidine adducts: implications for the mutagenicity of styrene oxide.

The reaction between 2'-deoxycytidine and styrene 7,8-oxide (SO) resulted in alkylation at the 3-position and at the O(2)-position through the alpha- and beta-carbons of the epoxide but at the N(4)-position only through the alpha-carbon. The 3-alkylated adducts were found to deaminate to the corresponding 2'-deoxyuridine adducts (37 degrees C, pH 7.4) with half-lives of 6 min and 2.4 h for the alpha- and beta-isomers, respectively. The N(4)-alkylated products were stable at neutral pH. The O(2)-alkylated products were unstable being prone to depyrimidation and to isomerisation between alpha- and beta-isomers. In SO-treated double-stranded DNA, enzymatic hydrolysis allowed the identification of the beta3-deoxyuridine and alphaN(4)-deoxycytidine adducts (1.9 and 0.5% of total alkylation, respectively), in addition to the previously identified DNA-adducts. The 3-substituted uracil may have implications for the mutagenicity of SO.