Analysis of tissue-specific lacZ mutations induced by N-nitrosodibenzylamine in transgenic mice.

N-Nitrosodibenzylamine (NDBzA) is a contaminant found frequently in rubber baby bottle nipples and pacifiers. To evaluate more fully the mutagenic potential and analyse the molecular nature of possible mutations induced in vivo, we have studied the mutagenicity of NDBzA in vivo using the MutaMouse system. NDBzA, suspended in olive oil, was administered orally once to male mice at different doses (0, 30, 100, 425 and 750 mg/kg) and the mice were killed 30 and 90 days after treatment. As a positive control, and to compare relative mutagenicity, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) was also administered to animals in the same experiment at doses of 0, 2, 6 and 10 mg/kg. Mutant frequencies were increased in both 30 and 90 day liver samples, but not in bone marrow, after both NDBzA and NDMA treatment. However, NDBzA was >100 times less mutagenic than NDMA. A total of 81 mutants obtained from liver samples of treated animals (750 mg/kg) were characterized by DNA sequencing. While spontaneous mutations in transgenic mice have been characterized previously by a preponderance of G:C-->A:T transitions, mainly at 5'-CpG-3' dinucleotide sites, the predominant type of NDBzA-induced mutation in this study was transversion, mainly G:C-->T:A changes. The molecular characteristics of mutations induced by NDBzA indicate that they may arise from specific unidentified DNA adducts and benzylation appears to be the primary mechanism involved in formation of these DNA adducts.