DNA damage and repair of human skin keratinocytes concurrently exposed to pyrene derivatives and UVA light.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of mutagenic environmental contaminants, insert toxicity through both metabolic activation and light irradiation. Pyrene, one of the most widely studied PAHs, along with its mono-substituted derivatives, 1-amino, 1-bromo, 1-hydroxy, and 1-nitropyrene, were chosen to study the effect of substituents on their phototoxicity, DNA damage and repair. Both alkaline Comet assay, which detects direct DNA damages, and Fpg endonuclease Comet assay, which detects oxidative DNA damages, were conducted at 0, 2, 4, 8, and 24 h of incubation of the cells in minimal growth medium after concomitant exposure to pyrene derivatives and UVA light. All these compounds are photocytotoxic and the phototoxicity is both incubation time and PAH dose dependent; whereas, those without light are not toxic. The LC50 obtained are in the range of 3.5 - 9.3 µM. Cellular DNA damages, both direct and oxidative, are observed immediately after the cells are treated with UVA light and the pyrene derivatives at a concentration of 1.0 µM. The amount of DNA damages (both direct and oxidative) increase from 0 to 4 h of incubation. After 4 hours, subsequent damage induction declines, and this is perceived to be mainly through DNA repair. After longer incubation of 8 h, the damaged cellular DNA start to be repaired, resulting in greatly reduced amount of DNA damages, and the DNA damage reaches the minimum at 24 h of incubation. 1-Amopyrene and 1-hydroxypyrene cause more DNA oxidative damages immediately after the exposure (0 h of incubation), and these damages are repaired within the same timeframe as the other tested compounds. The oxidative DNA damages caused by 1-bromopyrene are repaired starting at 2 h of incubation, earlier than the damages caused by all the other compounds.