Abstract
Styrene oxide (SO), a reactive metabolite of styrene, modifies DNA at several nucleophilic sites. In the present work we have determined the SO–DNA adducts in vitro and in vivo by two different versions of 32P-postlabelling/HPLC assays. When anionexchange cartridges were used for adduct enrichment the β-isomer of 7-substituted guanines was detected in in vitro SO-treated DNA as well as in mice lungs exposed to styrene at 750 and 1500 mg m−3 for 21 days (6 h day−1, 7 days week−1). In the lungs, the adduct levels were 6.5 and 23 per 108 nucleotides for the two doses, respectively. When the nuclease P1 resistant adducts were studied by the 32P-postlabelling/HPLC assay involving nuclease P1/prostatic acid phosphatase hydrolysis, the main adducts in in vitro-treated DNA were the α-isomer of N2-substituted guanine, β-isomers of 1-substituted adenine and 3-substituted uracil. β1-SO–adenine adduct was detected in the mice lung tissues after conversion of the 1-substituted adduct to the βN6-SO–adenine adduct by the Dimroth rearrangement. The 1-adenine adduct levels for the two doses were found to be 0.17 and 0.51 per 108 nucleotides. The current results show the potential of using the 7-guanine and 1-adenine adducts as biomarkers in biomonitoring of styrene exposure.