Studies on the photosensitizing properties of angelicin, an angular furocoumarin forming only monofunctional adducts with the pyrimidine bases of DNA.

The bioligical photosensitizing properties of furocoumarins are due to the formation of adducts with the pyrimidine bases of DNA under irradiation with long wavelength ultraviolet light. The greatest importance is attributed to the difunctional adducts, which form cross-linkings between the 2 strands of DNA. As angelicin, photoreacting with DNA, forms only monofunctional adducts, and therefore no cross-linkings, its photosensitizing properties have been studied in order to evaluate the ability of monofunctional adducts to produce biological effects. The results obtained studying the inhibition of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis in Ehrlich ascite tumor cells after irradiation in the presence of angelicin and psoralen (for a comparison), and the inhibition of the ability of identically treated cells to transmit the tumor showed a remarkable ability of monofunctional adducts to produce biological effects.