Urinary Profile of Alkylated DNA Adducts and DNA Oxidative Damage in Sulfur Mustard-Exposed Rats Revealed by Mass Spectrometry Quantification

Alkylation reagents, represented by sulfur mustard (SM), can damage DNA molecules directly as well as lead to oxidative stress, causing DNA lesions indirectly. Correspondingly, two types of biomarkers including alkylated DNA adducts and oxidative DNA adducts are commonly involved in the research of DNA damage evaluation caused by these agents. However, the correlations and differences of the occurrence, duration, severity, and traceability between alkylation and oxidation lesions on the DNA molecular level reflected by these two types of biomarkers have not been systematically studied. A simultaneous determination method for four alkylated DNA adducts, i.e., N7-(2-hydroxyethylthioethyl)2′-guanine (N7-HETEG), O6-(2-hydroxyethylthioethyl)-2′-guanine (O6-HETEG), N3-(2-hydroxyethylthioethyl)-2′-adenine (N3-HETEA), and bis(2-ethyl-N7-guanine)thioether (Bis-G), and the oxidative adduct 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) in urine samples by isotope-dilution high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (ID-HPLC-MS/MS) was built with a lower limit of detection of 0.02 ng/mL (except Bis-G, 0.05 ng/mL) and a recovery of 79–111%. The profile of these adducts was simultaneously monitored in urine samples after SD rats’ dermal exposure to SM in three dose levels (1, 3, and 10 mg/kg). The time–effect and dose–effect experiments revealed that when exposed to SM, DNA alkylation lesions would happen earlier than those of oxidation. For the two types of biomarkers, alkylated DNA adducts showed an obvious dose–effect relationship and could be used as internal exposure dose and effect biomarkers, while 8-OH-dG did not show a correlation with exposure dose, demonstrating that it was more suitable as a biomarker for DNA oxidative lesions but not an indicator for the extent of cytotoxicity and internal exposure.