| Effects of Sulfite on the Uptake and Binding of Benzo[a]pyrene Diol Epoxide in Cultured Murine Respiratory Epithelial Cells Justin L. Green, Brian C. Jones, and Gregory A. Reed Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics and Center for Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160-7417 USA Abstract Sulfur dioxide (SO2) may act as a cocarcinogen with benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) in the respiratory tract. We have modeled this effect by examining the interactions of 7r,8t-dihydroxy-9t,10t-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (anti-BPDE) with sulfite, the physiological form of SO2, in a murine respiratory epithelial cell line (C10) . We exposed C10 cells to [3H]-anti-BPDE and determined the effects of 1 and 10 mM sulfite on the uptake and subcellular localization of labeled products. Autoradiographic analysis showed that sulfite doubled the nuclear localization of anti-BPDE-derived materials after a 4-hr incubation period. The net nuclear localization of anti-BPDE-derived materials was not affected by sulfite during the first 60 min, but nuclear localization continued to increase in the sulfite-containing incubations throughout the 4-hr incubation period. Little increase in nuclear localization of anti-BPDE-derived material was noted in the incubations without sulfite after 60 min. Subcellular fractionation was performed to determine the amount of label associated with cytosolic and nuclear fractions and to determine covalent binding to protein and DNA. Sulfite produced a modest increase in the amount of [3H]-anti-BPDE-derived products bound to protein ; however, binding to nuclear DNA increased by more than 200% with 10 mM sulfite. Analysis of the supernatants from the cytosolic and nuclear fractions of cells exposed to anti-BPDE and sulfite demonstrated the presence of 7r,8t,9t-trihydroxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene-10c-sulfonate (BPT-10-sulfonate) . [3H]-BPT-10-sulfonate was unable to enter C10 cells, suggesting that it is formed intracellularly. Once formed, this compound may be unable to leave the cell. The observed intracellular formation of BPT-10-sulfonate, a more stable DNA-modifying BaP derivative than BPDE and one which probably cannot leave the cell, could be responsible for this extended time course of nuclear localization and DNA modification. Key words: benzo[a]-pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide, DNA modification, sulfite, type II cells. Environ Health Perspect 102:216-220(1994) http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1994/102-2/green.html Address correspondence to G. A. Reed, Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160-7417 USA. This work was supported by NIH grant ES-04092 (awarded to G.A.R.) , NIH training grant ES-07079 (supporting J.L.G.) , and by biomedical research grant S07 RR05373. We thank David Beer for his generous assistance and critical discussions throughout the course of this work. Received 2 August 1992 ; accepted 28 October 1993. The full version of this article is available for free in HTML format. |