A kinetic model of the cell culture cytotoxicity of metabolically activated agents: N-methyl-N-(acetoxymethyl)nitrosamine, methylnitrosourethane, and (methylazoxy)methanol acetate.

The activity of three metabolically activated methylating agents, N-methyl-N-(acetoxymethyl)nitrosamine (DMN-OAc), methylnitrosourethane (MNUT), and (methylazoxy)methanol acetate (MAM-Ac), were determined in cell culture by using a P388 cell growth rate inhibition assay. Experiments were conducted with normal P388 cells in Fischer's medium and under conditions in which the esterase-mediated activation was modified by pretreating cells with the irreversible esterase inhibitor paraoxon and by adding acetylcholinesterase to the medium. Inhibition of intracellular esterase had a much greater effect on activity than did addition of enzyme to medium. These experiments provided data that were used to assess the utility of kinetic models as a means to gain a more detailed understanding of the cytotoxicity process in cell culture. Growth rate inhibition was related to the amount of intracellular alkylation resulting from formation of metabolic intermediates and their subsequent chemical reaction to form methyldiazonium ion and methylation products by using kinetic rate laws and measured rate constants. The model is applicable to systems that form unstable metabolites that can, in part, partition between the cell volume and incubation medium. When growth rate inhibition effects were related to cumulative intracellular alkylation [P], the ED50 values were the same for all three agents and for three previously reported chemically activated methylating agents, N-methyl-N-nitrosourea, streptozotocin, and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, which are also thought to act through the methyldiazonium ion. This observation is consistent with a growth rate inhibition effect of the methyldiazonium ion that reflects the intrinsic activity of this species that is independent of the precursor molecule.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Nucleophilic reactions between biological conjugates and tetraalkylammonium ion pair reagents during desorption chemical ionization.

Tetraalkylammonium salts, commonly used as ion pair reagents in chromatography, were found to react with biological conjugates under desorption chemical ionization conditions in a mass spectrometer. The reactions occur for aromatic glucuronide and glucoside conjugates using solid samples loaded on the direct exposure probe. Evidence is presented that several mechanisms contribute to the degradative alkylation of benzo(a)pyrene glucuronide. This undesirable process can be prevented by using ammonium or trialkylammonium instead of tetraalkylammonium salts in the chromatographic separation. Nucleophilic attack on the tetraalkylammonium cations in the energized condensed phase was found to occur also for some simpler aromatic compounds.

Separation by ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography of the glucuronide, sulfate and glutathione conjugates formed from benzo[a]pyrene in cell cultures from rodents, fish and humans.

A large proportion of the metabolites formed from benzo[a]pyrene (BP) in cell cultures from rodents, fish and humans result from conjugation of an oxidized metabolite of BP with sulfate, glucuronic acid or glutathione (GSH). To improve the analysis of these metabolites, a reversed-phase ion-pair h.p.l.c. system using a step gradient of methanol:tetrabutyl-ammonium bromide in ammonium formate buffer has been developed for the separation of these three classes of conjugates. This system separated 3-hydroxy-BP glucuronide and sulfate conjugates and resolved them from GSH conjugates of BP 4,5-oxide, 7,8-oxide and 7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide. Cultures of early passage Syrian hamster, Wistar rat and Sencar mouse embryo cells, a bluegill fry (BF-2) cell line and a human hepatoma cell line (HepG2) were exposed to [3H]BP for 24 h. Medium samples from each were extracted with chloroform: methanol:water, and the water-soluble metabolites were analyzed by ion-pair h.p.l.c. The largest peak of metabolites in the media from cell cultures from rodents and the bluegill fry cell line co-eluted with the glucuronic acid conjugate of 3-hydroxy-BP. These phenol-glucuronides represented 48-62% of the total water-soluble metabolites in the fish and rodent cell cultures. Treatment of this material with beta-glucuronidase released 3-hydroxy-BP and 9-hydroxy-BP in ratios from 3:4 to 13.3:1 in various cultures. Media from the bluegill fry cell line and the mouse embryo cell cultures also contained a peak of BP-diol glucuronides; treatment of these peaks with beta-glucuronidase released mainly BP-7,8-diol. In HepG2 cells, 40% of the water-soluble metabolites were identified as sulfate conjugates of 3-hydroxy-BP and 9-hydroxy-BP. No glucuronic acid conjugates of BP metabolites were detected in HepG2 cells. Only small amounts of the water-soluble metabolites from these cell cultures eluted in the same volumes as the synthetic GSH conjugate of BP-4,5-oxide, BP-7,8-oxide and BP-7,8-diol-9,10-oxide. These studies indicate that conjugation with glucuronic acid represents a major pathway of formation of water-soluble metabolites from BP in cells derived from a number of species and demonstrate the value of this ion-pair h.p.l.c. system for the analysis of conjugates formed from BP.