Mutagenicity, DNA damage and DNA adduct formation by N-nitroso-2-hydroxyalkylamine and corresponding aldehydes.

The potent carcinogen N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) becomes mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 when activated by alcohol dehydrogenase from yeast or horse liver. Metabolic pathways different from alpha-oxidation might therefore be important for the activation of N-nitroso-2-hydroxyalkylamines such as NDELA. In an in-vitro test system (Namalva cells), neither NDELA nor N-nitrosoethyl-2-hydroxyethylamine was genotoxic, whereas the corresponding metabolites from alcohol dehydrogenase-mediated oxidation, N-nitroso-2-hydroxymorpholine and N-nitrosoethylethanalamine, induced single-strand breaks even at low doses. An immuno-slot-blot assay was used to study the formation of O6-2-hydroxyethyldeoxyguanosine in rat liver after oral administration of different N-nitroso-2-hydroxyalkylamines. When given at equimolar doses (0.375 mmol/kg), DNA hydroxyethylation was considerably lower (6.7 mumol/mol deoxyguanosine) with NDELA than with N-nitrosoethyl-2-hydroxyethylamine (48.7 mumol/mol deoxyguanosine) or N-nitrosomethyl-2-hydroxyethylamine (72.1 mumol/mol deoxyguanosine). N-Nitroso-2-hydroxymorpholine did not form detectable levels of O6-2-hydroxyethyldeoxyguanosine.