Differences in benzo(a)pyrene metabolism between cultured human and murine bronchial cells after pre-treatment with benz(a)anthracene.

Primary cultures of human and murine (strain C3Hz) bronchial epithelial cells were pretreated with benz(a)anthracene (BA) (10 microM). 16 h later the formation of phenolic as well as dihydrodiol metabolites of benzo(a)pyrene (BP) was measured. Whereas murine cultures showed enhanced metabolism towards both phenolic and dihydrodiol compounds, in the human cultures only phenolic BP-metabolites were increased. In view of their precursor role in the formation of biologically active diol-epoxides, formation of dihydrodiol-derivatives can be considered as a key factor in determining susceptibility to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-induced carcinogenesis. Therefore the observations of this study indicate that animal model systems for PAH carcinogenesis in man have to be selected on the basis of comparable metabolite patterns.