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A possible role of poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis in modulating the response of V79 cells to DNA damage induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) was investigated. Inhibition of [3H]thymidine (dThd) incorporation into DNA and lowering of NAD+ levels in intact cells were employed as parameters of DNA-synthesis inhibition and poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis, respectively. Dose responses of these parameters were studied in cells 2 and 24 h after treatment with the methylating agents in medium with or without dThd. The initial inhibition of DNA synthesis was uniformly associated with stimulation of poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis whether the cells were treated with MNNG or MMS, incubated with or without 20 microM dThd which did not inhibit poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis, or incubated with 3 mM dThd which did inhibit the latter synthesis. By contrast, the DNA-synthesis inhibition detected 24 h after treatment with MNNG was not associated with poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis. These data suggest that (i) the mechanism of this later inhibition of DNA synthesis is different from that of the initial inhibition, (ii) DNA-synthesis inhibition does not stimulate poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis, and (iii) single-strand breaks, resulting from N-methylation of the DNA, stimulate poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis, which may produce the initial inhibition of DNA synthesis. The initial inhibition of DNA synthesis was not uniformly associated with mutagenesis and dThd facilitation of MNNG-induced cytotoxicity and mutagenesis. This indicates that O-methylation of DNA does not stimulate poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis. Our data suggest that, in V79 cells treated with methylating agents, poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis is stimulated by single-strand breaks, inhibits DNA synthesis, and thereby serves to allow time for repair of the DNA prior to replication.

Hypoxanthine (Hx), thymidine (TdR) and deoxycytidine (CdR), at concentrations of 10(-5) M increased the yield of 8-azaguanine-resistant (AzGr) mutants induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) in cultured Chinese hamster V79 cells. The cytotoxicity of MNNG was increased 2-fold in the presence of Hx, and more than 10-fold in the presence of TdR. This cytotoxic effect of TdR was abolished by equal concentrations of CdR, which by itself did not increase the cytotoxicity of MNNG. However, the yield of MNNG-induced AzGr colonies was increased 2--10-fold in the presence of both CdR and TdR. The AzGr colonies displayed phenotypes characteristic of hypoxanthine: guaninephosphoribosyltransferase-deficient (HGPRT-) mutants, or indicative of mutant HGPRT with altered substrate affinities. The nucleosides did not affect the growth or expression time of the HGPRT- mutants; the same extent of alkali-labile DNA damage occurred in cells treated with alkylating agents in the presence and absence of TdR and CdR; and the increase in mutation frequency in the presence of these nucleosides occurred not only with MNNG, but also with ethylating agents. Nucleosides treated with MNNG were not mutagenic, and treatment of the cells with TdR and CdR only prior to treatment with MNNG or only during selection with AzG did not increase the induced mutation frequency. Therefore, the interpretation is proposed that CdR, TdR and Hx produce nucleotide-pool imbalances that increase lethal and mutagenic errors of replication of alkylated DNA.

The repair of single-strand breaks induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) in mouse embryo fibroblast DNA was studied using an alkaline sucrose sedimentation procedure with cells synchronized by arginine deprivation. Parallel studies in synchronized cells examined the effects of MNNG on malignant transformation and cell death. Cells in late G1 were maximally transformed, while cells in S-phase were maximally killed; by contrast, the repair capacity in both cases was similarly rapid. Arginine-deprived cells showed a low level of DNA repair, but the extent of cell death and transformation was comparable to that in rapidly repairing cells in G1 and S, respectively. Thus, in this system there is no direct correlation among DNA repair, cell transformation, and lethality.

The activities of streptozotocin (SZ), three structural analogs of SZ, and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) in producing cytotoxicity, mutations to 8-azaguanine (8-AzG) resistance, and DNA damage (single-strand breaks) in V79 Chinese hamster cells have been examined. These three biological processes appear to be associated. MNNG was about 10(3) times more active on a molar basis than SZ, and the activities of the analogs fell within these extremes.

Using the C3H/10T 1/2 CL8 line of mouse embryo fibroblasts and three different methods of obtaining cell cycle synchrony, namely arginine or isoleucine deficiency and release from postconfluence inhibition of growth, a sensitive phase for oncogenic transformation induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) has been found. This sensitive phase is located somewhere between the G1/S boundary and a point 4 hr prior to this marker. Methylation of cellular macromolecules by tritiated MNNG is not cycle-dependent in cells synchronized by arginine deficiency. The capacity of cells to repair DNA single strand breaks produced by MNNG was examined by alkaline sucrose sedimentation analysis in cells synchronized by arginine deficiency and treated with MNNG during phases of the cell cycle sensitive and insensitive to oncogenic transformation. Whereas DNA repair was found to be equally rapid in cells treated just before S phase (I), or just after commencement of DNA synthesis (III), transformation was maximal in I. By contrast, cells treated when blocked by arginine deficiency (II) repaired DNA slowly and were not sensitive to malignant transformation. Cells in I and II, which repaired DNA at very different rates, were equally sensitive to MNNG-induced lethality, while cells in III, which repaired DNA at the same rate as cells in I, suffered greater lethality. Thus, in this system it was concluded that there was no direct correlation between DNA repair, as measured by alkaline sucrose sedimentation analysis of prelabeled DNA, and malignant transformation or lethality produced by MNNG. In preliminary experiments malignant transformation induced by cytosine arabinoside (1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine, ara-C) has been found to occur mainly in S phase, indicating that diverse chemical oncogens may have different sites of action, or that activation of chemical oncogens is cell cycle-specific for some agents.