2-NITROPROPANE-INDUCED LIVER DNA AND RNA BASE MODIFICATIONS - DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RATS AND NEW-ZEALAND WHITE-RABBITS

2-Nitropropane (2-NP), a hepatocarcinogen in male Sprague-Dawley rats but not, under the same conditions, in male New Zealand White rabbits, induces characteristic base modifications in rat liver DNA and RNA in cluding increases in 8-oxoguanine and the formation of 8-aminoguanine. We compared the levels of these modifications in the two animal speci es at 6, 18 and 42 h after a single i.p. treatment with 1.12 mmol/kg 2 -NP. Significantly less nucleic acid base modifications were found to be produced in rabbit liver than in rat liver. Thus, the relative resi stance of the rabbit to the hepatocarcinogenicity of 2-NP correlates w ith decreased levels of 2-NP-induced liver DNA and RNA base damage.