Nitropyrene: DNA binding and adduct formation in respiratory tissues.

Binding of 1-nitro (14C)pyrene (NP) or its metabolites to cellular DNA and protein in cultures of rabbit alveolar macrophages, lung tissue, and tracheal tissue was examined. DNA binding in tracheal tissue (136 +/- 18.3 pmole NP/mg DNA) was four to five times the levels measured in either lung tissue (38 +/- 9.4 pmole NP/mg DNA) or macrophages (26 +/- 7.5 pmole NP/mg DNA). Adduct analysis of DNA isolated from lung tissue incubated with 1-nitro[H3]pyrene in vitro resulted in the identification of 2 to 5% of the NP adducts as C8-deoxyguanosine 1-aminopyrene. NP was also bound to cellular protein in tracheal tissue and lung tissue, and at a lower level in macrophages. Cocultivation of the macrophages with lung and tracheal tissue decreased the DNA binding in tracheal tissue by 45%. Following intratracheal instillation of diesel particles (5 mg) vapor-coated with 14C-NP (380 ppm, 0.085 muCi/mg) particles into rats, 5-8% of the radioactivity remained in the lungs after 20 hr. Most of the diesel particles were also deposited in the lung. Examination of DNA and protein binding in this tissue showed 5 to 12% of the pulmonary 14C bound to protein and no detectable levels of 14C bound to DNA.