Distribution of DNA adducts in the respiratory tract of rats exposed to diesel exhaust

Diesel exhaust, inhaled chronically at high concentrations, was previously found to be a pulmonary carcinogen in rats. The exhaust-induced tumors were located exclusively in the peripheral lung, although all of the respiratory tract tissues were exposed to the exhaust. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were differences in the level of DNA adducts among the regions of the respiratory tract that paralleled the site of tumors. Groups of male F344/N rats were exposed 7 hr/day, 5 day/week for 12 weeks to diesel engine exhaust at a soot concentration of 10 mg/m3 or were sham-exposed to air. The maxilloturbinates, ethmoturbinates, trachea, left mainstem bronchus (airway generation 1), axial airway (airway generations 2-12), and peripheral lung tissue were dissected from the respiratory tract. DNA was isolated from the dissected samples and analyzed for the presence of adducts using the 32P-postlabeling assay. Chromatographic maps of DNA adducts demonstrated unique patterns of DNA adducts for each of the regions. The highest level of total DNA adducts occurred in peripheral lung tissue (approximately 20 adducts per 10(9) bases). The level of DNA adducts detected in the nasal tissues was about one-fourth to one-fifth that detected in peripheral lung. There were less than three adducts per 10(9) bases in each of the regions of the major conducting airways. In control rats, levels of DNA adducts ranged from one adduct per 10(9) bases (mainstem bronchi, axial airway) to about nine adducts per 10(9) bases (parenchyma). The data from this study indicate that higher levels of total DNA adducts and exhaust-induced adducts were present in tissues where exhaust-induced tumors were located. These data suggest that DNA adduct levels in discrete locations of the respiratory tract may be good measures of the effective dose of carcinogenic compounds