Detection and characterization by 32P-postlabelling of DNA adducts induced by a Fenton-type oxygen radical-generating system.

Reactive oxygen species can give rise to numerous modifications of DNA. We have investigated the formation of such modifications using the nuclease P1 digestion method of the 32P-postlabelling procedure for the detection of DNA damage. Analysis of DNA that had been treated with a Fenton-type system of copper (or iron) ions and H2O2 resulted in the detection of up to ten discrete 32P-labelled spots, displaying chromatographic characteristics similar to aromatic adducts, on PEI-cellulose TLC. Maximum total levels equivalent to 28 adducts/10(8) nucleotides were achieved after 15 min of treatment with Cu2+/H2O2. The formation of adducts was 1.5 times greater if single-stranded rather than double-stranded DNA was employed, suggesting an intrastrand effect. Experiments with 3'-deoxyribonucleotides demonstrated that the adducts detected did not represent base modifications such as 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine or thymidine glycols. However, treatment of specific dinucleotides (dApdG and dApdA) was found to produce two major adducts that were chromatographically identical by TLC and HPLC to the two major adducts formed in DNA. It is proposed that these species with aromatic adduct-like characteristics are the result of the intrastrand linking of specific adjacent bases in DNA.