The effect of several classes of DNA-damaging chemicals and closely related compounds on cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) levels was studied in freshly isolated peripheral human lymphocytes. Of the 21 compounds examined, 7 were direct DNA-damaging agents and 14 were non-DNA-damaging compounds or required metabolic activation to casue DNA damage. Rapid lowering of cellular NAD levels was caused by each of the direct DNA-damaging chemicals examined in this study including N-methyl-N'-nitr-N-nitrosoguanidine, methyl methanesulfonate, N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene, 7-bromomethylbenz(a)anthracene, and the benzo(a)pyrene derivatives, r-7,t-8-dihydroxy-9, 10-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo(a)pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene-4,5-epoxide. The indirect-acting carcinogen 2-acetylaminofluorene, 13 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and derivatives that were non-DNA-damaging did not cause lowering of NAD. The results suggest a general correlation between DNA damage and acute lowering of cellular NAD pools.
Incorporation of [3H]thymidine into the DNA of fresh human lymphocytes, treated with various chemical mutagens, was measured and correlated with cellular NAD levels before and after treatment. NAD levels in lymphocytes were significantly reduced following treatment with mutagenic chemicals. Reduction of cellular NAD pools was directly correlated with [3H]thymidine incorporation. As NAD levels decreased, [3H]thymidine incorporation increased. Theophylline, a known inhibitor of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase, inhibited both the NAD reduction in cells treated with DNA damaging agents and the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA. The inhibitory effect of theophylline on NAD depletion and on [3H]thymidine incorporation was dose and cell number dependent. Near normal responses to carcinogen exposure could be restored to theophylline-treated cells following the removal of theophylline. These data suggest that conversion of NAD to poly(ADP-ribose) may be necessary, or at least closely associated with, DNA repair in human lymphocytes.