Inhibition of metabolic cooperation by cigarette smoke condensate and its fractions in V-79 Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts.

This study was performed to determine the usefulness of the intercellular metabolic cooperation assay for analysis of a complex mixture and to compare the results obtained with previously conducted in vivo tumor promoter assays. One hundred 2R1 cigarettes were smoked according to Federal Trade Commission guidelines and the resulting condensate was separated into a water/methanol-soluble fraction (which was further partitioned into acidic and basic components) and an organic solvent-soluble fraction (which was then chromatographed on silicic acid with petroleum ether, benzene/petroleum ether, benzene, ether, and methanol). The following fractions were positive in the metabolic cooperation assay (in decreasing order of activity): organic solvent-soluble, acidic, whole condensate, and water/methanol-soluble fractions as well as the ether, benzene, and benzene/petroleum ether eluates. The basic fraction and the petroleum ether and methanol eluates were negative. In general, the metabolic cooperation assay results were comparable to previously published results obtained on mouse skin.