In vivo genotoxicity and DNA adduct levels in the liver of rats treated with safrole.

The induction of chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), and the formation of DNA adducts was studied in hepatocytes of F344 rats exposed in vivo to safrole. Hepatocytes were isolated 24 h after a single dose of safrole or five repeated doses (once a day) by gastric intubation and allowed to proliferate in Williams' medium E supplemented with epidermal growth factor. Cells were fixed after 48 h in culture. Safrole-DNA adducts were detected by a nuclease P1-enhanced 32P-post-labeling assay in isolated hepatocytes from the rats. While a single dose was not sufficient to induce detectable levels of chromosome aberrations at the time of assay, five repeated doses induced these changes with a maximum frequency of 13.4%, compared with the control value of 1.8%. Both a single dose and five repeated doses induced significant SCEs, to a maximum frequency of 0.81 SCEs per chromosome, while the control value was 0.59 SCEs per chromosome. Two major and two minor DNA adducts were detected after treatment with either a single dose or five repeated doses. The maximum amount of total DNA adducts was 89.8 DNA adducts/10(7) nucleotides. These results show that safrole is a genotoxic carcinogen in the rat liver in vivo and suggest that the cytogenetic effects of this compound may result from covalent DNA modification in the rat liver. This in vivo cytogenetic assay should provide a useful means of evaluation of the genotoxicity of hepatocarcinogens.