THE DETECTION OF ADDUCTS IN HUMAN CERVIX TISSUE DNA USING P-32 POSTLABELING - A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP WITH SMOKING HISTORY AND ORAL-CONTRACEPTIVE USE

P-32-Postlabelling was used to measure DNA adducts in the human cervix . Adduct levels were compared with patient smoking histories and contr aceptive use. DNA adducts were found in 43 out of 58 samples. The numb er of adducts ranged from 0.2 to 59.5 adducts/10(8) nucleotides, thoug h no significant difference was found to exist between the number of D NA adducts detected and the smoking history of each patient. In contra st, a significant difference at the 1% probability level was found bet ween the adduct levels obtained from the cervical DNA of smokers who h ad used oral contraceptives and smokers who did not. Autoradiograms re vealed a variety of adduct patterns. Some were found to have a diagona l zone of radioactivity which migrated from the origin of the TLC plat e. Other autoradiograms revealed the presence of additional adduct spo ts located in the upper regions of the TLC plate, whereas others revea led the presence of these adduct spots alone. The origin of the adduct spots located in the upper regions of the TLC plate is unknown.