Formation of the 1,2-diol as a metabolite of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]-anthracene by rodent and human skin.

Rodent and human skin maintained in short-term organ culture was treated with 3H-labelled 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]-anthracene. Extracts of the rodent tissue and culture fluid in which either mouse, rat or human skin had been maintained were found to contain radioactive material that possessed the chromatographic characteristics of trans-1,2-dihydro-1,2-dihydroxy-7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene when it was examined in two different h.p.l.c. systems. When the metabolite was treated with hot mineral acid, the two radioactive products formed co-chromatographed with the phenols that were formed when the reference dihydrodiol was similarly treated. Acetylation of the isolated metabolite yielded a single product that had chromatographic properties identical to those of the diacetate of the reference dihydrodiol. Taken together these data show that the 1,2-dihydrodiol of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene is formed as a metabolite of this hydrocarbon by rodent and human skin maintained in short-term organ culture.