Metabolic activation of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene in rat mammary tissue: fluorescence spectral characteristics of hydrocarbon-DNA adducts.

The hydrocarbon-deoxyribonucleoside adducts present in DNA isolated from the mammary glands of rats that had been treated with 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) were separated by Sephadex LH20 column chromatography, purified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and examined by photon-counting spectrophotofluorimetry. The adducts were found to have anthracene-like fluorescence spectra which is consistent with the reaction of diol-epoxides formed in the 1,2,3,4-ring of DMBA with mammary gland DNA.