N2 atom of guanine and N6 atom of adenine residues as sites for covalent binding of metabolically activated 1'-hydroxysafrole to mouse liver DNA in vivo.

Administration of 1'-[2'-3'-3H]hydroxysafrole to adult female mice resulted in the formation of DNA-, ribosomal RNA-, and protein-bound adducts in the liver that reached maximum levels within 24 hr. The levels of all three macromolecule-bound adducts decreased rapidly between 1 and 3 days after injection, at which time the amounts of the DNA-bound adducts essentially plateaued at approximately 15% of the maximum level. The amounts of the protein and ribosomal RNA adducts were very low by 20 days. Comparison by high-performance liquid chromatography of the deoxyribonucleoside adducts obtained from the hepatic DNA with those formed by reaction of deoxyguanosine and deoxyadenosine with 1'-acetoxysafrole, 1'-hydroxysafrole-2',3'-oxide, and 1'-oxosafrole indicated that the four in vivo adducts studied were derived from an ester of 1'-hydroxysafrole. Three of the four in vivo adducts comigrated with adducts formed by reaction of 1'-acetoxysafrole with deoxyguanosine; the fourth adduct comigrated with the major product of the reaction of this ester with deoxyadenosine. Adduct formation in vivo at low levels by the other two electrophilic metabolites was not excluded. The three adducts obtained by reaction of 1'-acetoxysafrole with deoxyguanosine appeared to be substituted on the 2-amino group of the guanine residue on the basis of their partitions between aqueous buffer solutions and 1-butanol:ethyl ether as a function of pH and their retention of 3H from [8-3H]deoxyguanosine. The corresponding three adducts derived from the hepatic DNA of mice given 1'-[2',3'-3H]hydroxysafrole had pH partition patterns not significantly different from the three adducts formed in vitro. Adduct II was further characterized from its nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum as N2-(trans-isosafrol-3'-yl)deoxyguanosine. Adduct IV, derived from the reaction of 1'-acetoxysafrole with deoxyadenosine 5'-phosphate, was characterized in the same manner as N6-(trans-isosafrol-3'-yl)deoxyadenosine.