Methylation of liver DNA guanine in hydrazine hepatotoxicity: dose-response and kinetic characteristics of 7-methylguanine and O6-methylguanine formation and persistence in rats.

Fischer 344 or Sprague Dawley rats were fasted overnight and given orally 30--90 mg hydrazine/kg body wt. The presence of 7-methylguanine and O6-methylguanine in liver DNA was demonstrated 5 and 24 h after hydrazine administration using two different analytical techniques. Methylation levels changed little with dose except for the highest dose (ca. LD50) at which the levels doubled. In a time-response study, rats were given 90 mg hydrazine/kg body wt. and killed 0.25 to 96 h later. Both 7-methylguanine and O6-methylguanine were detected quantitatively in liver DNA from rats as early as 15 min after hydrazine administration. After maximum levels of methylguanines had formed, 7-methylguanine was removed from DNA at a rate of approximately 50% in 47 h; the half-life of O6-methylguanine in liver DNA was approximately 13 hr. Three or four, but not one or two, daily administrations of 3 mg hydrazine/kg body wt. also produced detectable levels of 7-methylguanine in rat liver DNA. Neither 7-methylguanine or O6-methylguanine was detected in comparable amounts of liver DNA from control animals. The study confirms the observation that hydrazine administration results in the formation of methylated guanines in liver DNA.