Interaction of sulfur mustard with rat liver salt fractionated chromatin.

In this study, the interaction of an alkylating agent, sulfur mustard (SM) with rat liver active (S1 and S2) and inactive (P2) chromatin was investigated employing UV/vis spectroscopy and gel electrophoreses. The results show that SM affects the chromatin structure in a dose-dependent manner. The binding of SM to fractions is different. At lower concentrations (<500 microM), SM seems to unfold the structure and at higher concentrations, it induces aggregation and condensation of chromatin possibly via forming cross-links between the chromatin components. The extent of condensation in S2 is higher when compared to the P2 fraction. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.