The rat liver 9000 g supernatant mediated metabolism of the carcinogenic aristolochic acid, which consists of aristolochic acid I (AAI) and aristolochic acid II (AAII), was investigated. Under anaerobic conditions the major metabolites were the corresponding aristolactams for both AAI and AAII. In contrast under aerobic conditions AAII was not detectably metabolized and the only metabolite found for AAI was the O-demethylated derivative aristolochic acid Ia (AAIa). The metabolites were identified by their u.v., mass and n.m.r. spectra and by comparison with reference standards. The mutagenic activities of the three metabolites were determined in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA1537 and TA 100. The aristolactams were mutagenic in both strains when a metabolizing system was present. These results indicate that AAI or AAII and their aristolactams exert their effect via a common reactive intermediate, probably the corresponding hydroxylamine. AAIa was only very weakly mutagenic and this metabolite may therefore not be regarded as a major mutagenic metabolite of AAI. These findings suggest that the acids are preferentially metabolized by two totally different pathways in vitro, namely an oxidative pathway for AAI and a reductive pathway for AAII.
The potent carcinogen N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) which is nonmutagenic in standard modifications of the S. typhimurium/mammalian microsome assay, can be activated effectively by alcohol dehydrogenase/NAD (ADH/NAD) to intermediates which are directly mutagenic in strains TA 98 and TA 100. The expected metabolites N-nitroso-2-hydroxymorpholine (NHMor), N-nitroso-(2-hydroxyethyl)-glycine (NHEG), N-nitrosoiminodiacetic acid (NIDA), and glycolaldehyde were assayed for their direct mutagenic activities in S. typhimurium TA 1535, TA 98, and TA 100. All compounds were clearly mutagenic in TA 100, but different specificities were observed for the other strains. NDELA and its putative mutagenic metabolites were also tested for induction of genotoxic activities by determination of DNA single strand breaks in primary rat hepatocytes. In these cells, NDELA and NHMor were clearly genotoxic, whereas NHEG and NIDA were inactive. In contrast, when assayed for the induction of selective DNA amplification NDELA and its metabolites were not found to induce SV40 DNA synthesis in SV40-transformed Chinese Hamster cells. The compounds were also assayed for induction of DNA single strand breaks in the liver after a single oral application to rats. NDELA and NHMor were about equally active in this in vivo test, whereas NHEG, NIDA and glycolaldehyde were inactive. Differences in biological activity in the cultivated cells, as compared to hepatocytes or to the in vivo situation may most probably be due to differences in metabolism and/or pharmacokinetics.
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