Alkylation reagents, represented by sulfur mustard (SM),
can damage
DNA molecules directly as well as lead to oxidative stress, causing
DNA lesions indirectly. Correspondingly, two types of biomarkers including
alkylated DNA adducts and oxidative DNA adducts are commonly involved
in the research of DNA damage evaluation caused by these agents. However,
the correlations and differences of the occurrence, duration, severity,
and traceability between alkylation and oxidation lesions on the DNA
molecular level reflected by these two types of biomarkers have not
been systematically studied. A simultaneous determination method for
four alkylated DNA adducts, i.e., N7-(2-hydroxyethylthioethyl)2′-guanine
(N7-HETEG), O6-(2-hydroxyethylthioethyl)-2′-guanine
(O6-HETEG), N3-(2-hydroxyethylthioethyl)-2′-adenine
(N3-HETEA), and bis(2-ethyl-N7-guanine)thioether
(Bis-G), and the oxidative adduct 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine
(8-OH-dG) in urine samples by isotope-dilution high-performance liquid
chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (ID-HPLC-MS/MS) was built
with a lower limit of detection of 0.02 ng/mL (except Bis-G, 0.05
ng/mL) and a recovery of 79–111%. The profile of these adducts
was simultaneously monitored in urine samples after SD rats’
dermal exposure to SM in three dose levels (1, 3, and 10 mg/kg). The
time–effect and dose–effect experiments revealed that
when exposed to SM, DNA alkylation lesions would happen earlier than
those of oxidation. For the two types of biomarkers, alkylated DNA
adducts showed an obvious dose–effect relationship and could
be used as internal exposure dose and effect biomarkers, while 8-OH-dG
did not show a correlation with exposure dose, demonstrating that
it was more suitable as a biomarker for DNA oxidative lesions but
not an indicator for the extent of cytotoxicity and internal exposure.