Dinitropyrenes induce gene mutations in multiple organs of the lambda/lacZ transgenic mouse (Muta™ Mouse)

Abstract Dinitropyrenes (DNPs), 1,3-, 1,6- and 1,8-dinitropyrene, are carcinogenic compounds found in diesel engine exhaust. DNPs are strongly mutagenic in the bacterial mutation assay (Ames test), mainly inducing frameshift type mutations. To assess mutagenicity of DNPs in vivo is important in evaluating their possible involvement in diesel exhaust-induced carcinogenesis in human. For this purpose, we used the lambda/ lacZ transgenic mouse (Muta™ Mouse) to examine induction of mutations in multiple organs. A commercially available mixture of DNPs (1,3-, 1,6-, 1,8-, and unidentified isomer (s) with a content of 20.2, 30.4, 35.2, and 14.2%, respectively) was injected intragastrically at 200 and 400 mg/kg once each week for 4 weeks. Seven days after the final treatment, liver, lung, colon, stomach, and bone marrow were collected for mutation analysis. The target transgene was recovered by the lambda packaging method and mutation of lacZ gene was analyzed by a positive selection with galE − E. coli . In order to determine the sequence alterations by DNPs, the mutagenicity of the lambda cII gene was also examined by the positive selection with hfl − E. coli . Since cII gene (294 bp) is much smaller than the lacZ (3024 bp), it facilitated the sequence analysis. Strongest increases in mutant frequencies (MFs) were observed in colon for both lacZ (7.5×10 −5 to 43.3×10 −5 ) and cII (2.7×10 −5 to 22.5×10 −5 ) gene. Three–four-fold increases were observed in stomach for both genes. A statistically significant increase in MFs was also evident in liver and lung for the lacZ gene, and in lung and bone marrow for the cII gene. The sequence alterations of the cII gene recovered from 37 mutants in the colon were compared with 50 mutants from untreated mice. Base substitution mutations predominated for both untreated (91%) and DNP-treated (84%) groups. The DNPs treatment increased the incidence of G:C to T:A transversion (2–43%) and decreased G:C to A:T transitions (70–22%). The G:C to T:A transversions, characteristic to DNPs treatment, is probably caused by the guanine–C8 adduct, which is known as a major DNA-adduct induced by DNPs, through an incorporation of adenine opposite the adduct (“A”-rule). The present study showed a relevant use of the cII gene as an additional target for mutagenesis in the Muta™ Mouse and revealed a mutagenic specificity of DNPs in vivo.