Quantitative PCR analysis of diepoxybutane and epihalohydrin damage to nuclear versus mitochondrial DNA.

ABSTRACT: The bifunctional alkylating agents diepoxybutane (DEB) and epichlorohydrin (ECH) are linked to the elevated incidence of certain cancers among workers in the synthetic polymer industry. Both compounds form interstrand cross-links within duplex DNA, an activity suggested to contribute to their cytotoxicity. To assess the DNA targeting of these compounds in vivo, we assayed for damage within chicken erythro-progenitor cells at three different sites: one within mitochondrial DNA, one within expressed nuclear DNA, and one within unexpressed nuclear DNA. We determined the degree of damage at each site via a quantitative polymerase chain reaction, which compares amplification of control, untreated DNA to that from cells exposed to the agent in question. We found that ECH and the related compound

SUBMITTER: Lariviere FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2727856 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature