Chronic inhalation exposure to mainstream cigarette smoke increases lung and nasal tumor incidence in rats.

An animal model of lung carcinogenicity induced by chronic inhalation of mainstream cigarette smoke would be useful for research on carcinogenic mechanisms, smoke composition-response relationships, co-carcinogenicity, and chemoprevention. A study was conducted to determine if chronic whole-body exposures of rats would significantly increase lung tumor incidence. Male and female F344 rats (n = 81 to 178/gender) were exposed whole-body 6 h/day, 5 days/week for up to 30 months to smoke from 1R3 research cigarettes diluted to 100 (LS) or 250 (HS) mg total particulate matter/m(3), or sham-exposed to clean air (C). Gross respiratory tract lesions and standard lung and nasal sections were evaluated by light microscopy. A slight reduction of survival suggested that the HS level was at the maximum tolerated dose as commonly defined. Cigarette smoke exposure significantly increased the incidences of non-neoplastic and neoplastic proliferative lung lesions in females, while nonsignificant increases were observed in males. The combined incidence of bronchioloalveolar adenomas and carcinomas in females were: HS = 14%; LS = 6%; and C = 0%. These incidences represented minima because only standard lung sections and gross lesions were evaluated. Mutations in codon 12 of the K-ras gene occurred in 4 of 23 (17%) tumors. Three mutations were G to A transitions and one was a G to T transversion. The incidence of neoplasia of the nasal cavity was significantly increased at the HS, but not the LS level in both males and females (HS = 6%, LS = 0.3%, C = 0.4% for combined genders). These results demonstrate that chronic whole-body exposure of rats to cigarette smoke can induce lung cancer.

Analysis of butadiene urinary metabolites by liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.

1,3-Butadiene (BD) is a monomer produced in petrochemical production facilities and from several combustion sources. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has defined BD as a probable human carcinogen. Methods for assessing exposure and internal dose are therefore of critical interest, and one technique is the measurement of urinary metabolites. Here we describe methods for measuring two urinary metabolites, N-acetyl-S-(3,4-dihydroxybutyl)-L-cysteine (referred to as MI) and an isomeric mixture of the regio- and stereoisomers (R)/(S)-N-acetyl-S-(1-(hydroxymethyl)-2-propen-yl)-L-cysteine and (R)/(S)-N-acetyl-S-(2-hydroxy-3-butenyl)-L-cysteine (referred to as MII). The method is based on isolation of the metabolites by solid-phase extraction and measurement using liquid chromatography and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS(3)). The LC-MS(3) allowed good selectivity with minimal sample preparation. Assay accuracy was within 10% or better, with substantial improvement in accuracy accompanying the commercial availability of deuterated internal standards for both compounds. Assay precision and linearity passed rigorous validation criteria, and precision-based limits of quantitation values were 12 and 1 ng/mL for MI and MII, respectively. Data are shown from analysis of human urine from occupationally exposed individuals and rat urine from BD exposures conducted to investigate rodent metabolic profiles. Both of these data sets clearly show that this assay can discern previously described relationships between BD exposure and the production of MI/MII.