Biotransformation enzyme-dependent formation of micronucleus and multinuclei in cell line V79-hCYP2E1-hSULT1A1 by 2-nitropropane and N-nitrosodimethylamine.

V79-hCYP2E1-hSULT1A1, a V79-derived cell line co-expressing both human CYP2E1 and SULT1A1, has been constructed and efficiently used in detection of the mutagenic activities of a number of promutagens. 2-Nitropropane (2-NP) and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), both being hepatocarcinogenic to animals but inactive in standard genotoxicity assays in vitro, are activated to mutagenic metabolites by human SULT1A1 and CYP2E1, respectively. Nevertheless, little is known about the chromosomal effects of these two carcinogens. In the present study, we investigated the effects of 2-NP and NDMA on frequencies of micronucleated (F(mi)) and multinucleated cells (F(mu)) in V79-hCYP2E1-hSULT1A1 cells. The results showed induction of both F(mi) and F(mu) by 2-NP and NDMA individually, and this effect was completely suppressed by relatively specific inhibitor of SULT1A1 and CYP2E1, i.e., pentachlorophenol and 1-aminobenzotriazole, respectively. The F(mu)/F(mi) ratio in 2-NP groups was significantly higher than NDMA groups, probably indicating an aneugenic activity of 2-NP based on proposed F(mu)/F(mi) ratio as a simple index to discriminate aneugens from clastogens. The present study has established biotransformation enzyme-dependent formation of multinuclei and micronuclei induced by 2-NP and NDMA.