Several epidemiologic studies indicate that NAT2-related slow N-acetylation increases bladder cancer risk among workers exposed to aromatic amines, presumably because N-acetylation is important for the detoxification of these compounds. Previously, we showed that NAT2 polymorphisms did not influence bladder cancer risk among Chinese workers exposed exclusively to benzidine (BZ), suggesting that NAT2 N-acetylation is not a critical detoxifying pathway for this aromatic amine. To evaluate the biologic plausibility of this finding, we carried out a cross-sectional study of 33 workers exposed to BZ and 15 unexposed controls in Ahmedabad, India, to evaluate the presence of BZ-related DNA adducts in exfoliated urothelial cells, the excretion pattern of BZ metabolites, and the impact of NAT2 activity on these outcomes. Four DNA adducts were significantly elevated in exposed workers compared to controls; of these, the predominant adduct cochromatographed with a synthetic N-(3'-phosphodeoxyguanosin-8-yl)-N'-acetylbenzidine standard and was the only adduct that was significantly associated with total BZ urinary metabolites (r = 0.68, P < 0.0001). To our knowledge this is the first report to show that BZ forms DNA adducts in exfoliated urothelial cells of exposed humans and that the predominant adduct formed is N-acetylated, supporting the concept that monofunctional acetylation is an activation, rather than a detoxification, step for BZ. However, because almost all BZ-related metabolites measured in the urine of exposed workers were acetylated among slow, as well as rapid, acetylators (mean ± SD 95 ± 1.9o vs. 97 + 1.6%, respectively) and NAT2 activity did not affect the levels of any DNA adduct measured, it is unlikely that interindividual variation in NAT2 function is relevant for BZ-associated bladder carcinogenesis.Aromatic amines must be metabolized within the host in order to exert mutagenic or carcinogenic activity (1). For many aromatic monoamines, including those found in tobacco smoke such as 4-aminobiphenyl (4-ABP) and 2-naphthylamine, N-acetylation appears to be a detoxification pathway, with the acetylated metabolite being excreted into the urine before it can be N-oxidized to a reactive form (2). In contrast, acetylation may be an activation pathway for benzidine (BZ), an aromatic diamine, in that N-acetylation of one amine group has been shown to facilitate N-oxidation to a reactive species by cytochrome P-450 (3, 4). Alternatively, BZ may be directly activated by prostaglandin-H synthetase in the bladder to benzidinediimine (the two-electron oxidation product), which can bind to DNA (5, 6). Thus, for BZ, the impact of acetylation on the production of the critical activated metabolite(s) is less certain and may be more complicated than for aromatic monoamines.The capacity to N-acetylate is polymorphic in humans (2); slow acetylators are homozygotic for a mutated N-acetyltransferase gene (NA72) that is generally responsible for decreased activity (7,8). In 1979, Lower et al. (9) proposed that individu...

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Although glucuronidation is considered a necessary step in aromatic amine-induced bladder cancer, the specific enzymes involved are not known. This study assessed the capacity of five different human recombinant UDP-glucuronosyltransferases expressed in COS-1 cells to glucuronidate benzidine, its metabolites and 4-aminobiphenyl. [(14)C]UDP-glucuronic acid was used as co-substrate. UGT1A1, UGT1A4 and UGT1A9 each metabolized all of the aromatic amines. UGT1A9 exhibited the highest relative rates of metabolism with preference for the two hydroxamic acids, N-hydroxy-N-acetylbenzidine and N-hydroxy-N,N'-diacetylbenzidine. UGT1A9 metabolized 4-aminobiphenyl approximately 50% faster than benzidine or N-acetylbenzidine. UGT1A4 N-glucuronidated N'-hydroxy- N-acetylbenzidine at the highest relative rate compared with the other transferases. UGT1A6 was effective in metabolizing only four of the eight aromatic amines tested. UGT1A1 demonstrated more extensive metabolism of the hydroxamic acid, N-hydroxy-N,N'-diacetylbenzidine, and the ring oxidation product, 3-OH-N,N'-diacetylbenzidine, than it did for the other six amines. UGT2B7 was the only product of the UGT2 gene family examined and it metabolized all the aromatic amines at similar low relative levels compared with a preferred substrate, 4-OH-estrone. The K(m) values for N-acetylbenzidine metabolism by UGT1A1 and UGT1A4 were 0.37 +/- 0.14 and 1.8 +/- 0.4 mM, respectively. The O-glucuronide of 3-OH-N,N'-diacetylbenzidine was not hydrolyzed during a 24 h 37 degrees C incubation at either pH 5. 5 or 7.4. Likewise, the O-glucuronide of 3-OH-benzidine was stable at pH 7.4, with 52% remaining at pH 5.5 after 24 h. These results suggest the following relative ranking of transferase metabolism: UGT1A9 > UGT1A4 > > UGT2B7 > UGT1A6 approximately UGT1A1. The relative pH stability of O-glucuronides is consistent with a role in detoxification and excretion of aromatic amines, while the acid lability of N-glucuronides is consistent with delivery of these amines to the bladder epithelium for activation, resulting in DNA adducts which may lead to mutations.

To study the reported decline in intestinal calcium absorption with age, calcium active transport, immunoreactive calcium protein (CaBP) content, and alkaline phosphatase activity were measured in the intestine of two strains of rats aged 3-wk--20 mo. Calcium active transport, as measured by everted gut sacs from Sprague-Dawley rats, was greatest at 3 wk, but it declined rapidly with no active transport demonstrable at 3 mo or thereafter. CaBP content closely paralleled the decline in active transport, but alkaline phosphatase activity increased as active transport decreased. Intestinal adaptation to dietary calcium was studied by feeding high- and low-calcium diets to Fischer 344 rats aged 1.5--12 mo. In 1.5-mo-old rats fed a low-calcium diet, there was an increase in calcium active transport, CaBP content, and alkaline phosphatase activity relative to animals fed a high-calcium diet. However, the magnitude of this intestinal adaptation decreased with age until there was only marginal adaptation by 12 mo. The observed changes in calcium active transport with age and diet may be explained by the parallel changes in the vitamin D-dependent CaBP content of the intestine.

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