Protonated N-hydroxy arylamines

In contrast to the reactivity of N-sulfonyloxy and N-acetoxy esters of arylamides and arylamines, the relative reactivity of protonated N-hydroxy arylamines with nucleophiles generally decreases in the order DNA > denatured DNA > rRNA = protein > tRNA nucleotides s nucleosides s methionine = GSH (2,13-17,30,36,40,127,129, 130). Furthermore, the rate of reaction with DNA was found to be not only first order with respect to N-hydroxy arylamine concentration, but also first order with respect to DNA concentration (127,129,131). These data suggested that the reaction mechanism was... 

The exceptional reactivity of DNA for protonated N-hydroxy arylamines can be rationalized by at least two mechanisms. First, intercalation of the electrophilic intermediate between DNA bases could sterically assist in desolvation and in directing the electrophilic center of the carcinogen over the nucleophilic region of the DNA base. This seems unlikely, however, as pretreatment of DNA with cis-Pt, which decreased the DNA contour length by 50%, failed to reduce the reactivity of N-hydroxy-1-naphthylamine for the DNA (137). A second possibility involves an electrostatic attraction between the electrophile and the phosphate backbone of the DNA (77). This seems more probable since eithe j +high ionic strength or stoichiometric (to DNA-P) amounts of Mg strongly inhibit DNA adduct formation (77,137). In addition, evidence has been presented that N-hydroxy arylamine-DNA/RNA phosphotriesters may be formed which induce strand breaks (137,138) and could serve as a catalyst for desolvation and subsequent adduct formation. 

The importance of protonated N-hydroxy arylamines as ultimate carcinogens has been suggested for some time (28,40,139). From studies on their reactivity with nucleic acids at different pH s (2,15,16,63,130,131), the pK for protonation of the N-hydroxy group appears to be between pH 5a and 6 thus, a significant proportion (1-10%) of the N-hydroxy derivative exists as the protonated form even under neutral conditions. This would account for the significant levels of covalent modification of DNA observed in vitro by reaction with N-hydroxy arylamines at neutral pH. Consequently, it has been proposed that in vivo formation of non-acetylated aryl... 

Protonated N-hydroxy arylamines have also been proposed to be ultimate carcinogens for the urinary bladder (16,17,140,141) since urine pH is slightly acidic in a number of species (14,142). Furthermore, pharmacokinetic studies have shown that increased urine acidity and decreased frequency of urination are predictive of relative species susceptibility to urinary bladder carcinogenesis (142) and neoplastic transformation of cultured human fibroblasts by N-hydroxy arylamines is greatly enhanced by incubation at pH 5 as compared to pH 7 (143). 

Figure 6. Reaction Mechanism and Formation of Protonated N-Hydroxy Arylamines (VIII). RNH2, N2-guanine- and N8-adenine-nucleic acids ROH, 06-guanine-nucleic acids RCH, C8-guanine- and C8-adenine-nucleic acids.

N-Hydroxy arylamines readily form glucuronide conjugates, but in contrast to the N-hydroxy arylamides, these are N-glucuronides which are unreactive and stable at neutral pH. The N-glucuronides are readily transported to the lumens of the urinary bladder and intestine where they can be hydrolyzed to the free N-hydroxy arylamines by mildly acidic urine or by intestinal bacterial 3-glucuronidases (13,14). Non-enzymatic activation of N-hydroxy arylamines can occur in an acidic environment by protonation (15,16) of the N-hydroxy group (VIII) as well as by air oxidation (reviewed in 17) to a nitrosoarene (IX). 

N-AryInitrones (XIII) formed by oxidation of N-hydroxy-N-methyl arylamines, show high reactivity toward carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen double bonds in non-aqueous media (21,203) (Figure 10). Under physiological conditions, however, it appears that N-arylnitrones exist as protonated salts that readily hydrolyze to formaldehyde and a primary N-hydroxy arylamine and efforts to detect N-arylnitrone addition products in cellular lipid, protein or nucleic acids have not been successful (204). Nitroxide radicals derived from N-hydroxy-MAB have also been suggested as reactive intermediates (150), but their direct covalent reaction with nucleic acids has been excluded (21). 

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