Inhibition of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mutagenicity and DNA methylation by ellagic acid.

Ellagic acid, a naturally occurring plant phenol, inhibits the activity of the direct-acting mutagen N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MeNU) in Salmonella typhimurium TA100. Ellagic acid at 0.10, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 mM inhibited the mutagenicity of MeNU (0.40 mM) by 3%, 13%, 45%, and 60%, respectively. Ellagic acid (3 mM) also inhibited the mutagenic activity of N,N-dimethylnitrosamine (25-200 mM) in the presence of pyrazole-induced rat liver fraction S-9. The effect of ellagic acid on DNA methylation was studied by incubating 0, 0.72, 1.32, 2.64, and 6.60 mM ellagic acid with DNA (0.9 mM nucleotide) and [3H]MeNU (0.66 mM). HPLC analysis of DNA hydrolysates showed that ellagic acid caused a dose-dependent 36-84% decrease in O6-methylguanine but only a 20% decrease in the 7-methylguanine adduct. Under conditions where methylation at the O6 position of guanine in double-stranded DNA was inhibited 65% by ellagic acid, no significant inhibition of either O6- or 7-methylguanine formation was detected in single-stranded DNA. Affinity-binding studies revealed that [3H]ellagic acid binds equally to double-stranded or single-stranded DNA but that poly(dA X dT) binds 1.5 times as much ellagic acid as does poly(dG X dC). The binding of ellagic acid to DNA is dependent on the concentration of both ellagic acid and DNA. The specific inhibition of O6-methylguanine formation only in double-stranded DNA and the relatively low inhibition of 7-methylguanine formation rule out the possibility that ellagic acid prevents DNA alkylation by scavenging the electrophilic intermediate generated in the hydrolysis of MeNU. The results suggest that ellagic acid inhibition of MeNU-induced mutagenicity is due to specific inhibition of methylation at the O6 position of guanine through an ellagic acid-duplex DNA affinity-binding mechanism.