DEOXYRIBONUCLEOSIDE TRIPHOSPHATES IN MOUSE FETAL LIVER-CELLS ASSAYED BY HIGH-PRESSURE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A method for quantifying deoxyribonucleoside 5'-triphosphates (dNTPs) in mouse fetal livers is reported. The live fetus was decapitated, and the liver of the fetus was taken out within a few seconds, weighed, a nd immediately subjected to extraction with trichloroacetic acid. Liqu id-N-2 freezing of the organ. samples was not done, due to technical d ifficulties arising from the smallness of the samples. Subsequent quan tification by a commonly used HPLC analysis showed that the concentrat ions of dCTP, dTTP, dATP and dGTP in the fetal livers from 4 maternal mice on day 13 of gestation were 7.25 +/- 0.99, 21.03 +/- 2.66, 10.18 +/- 0.69, and 4.28 +/- 0.31 (pmol/mg wet weight +/- SD), respectively. Injection of 6-fluorouracil, a micronuclei-inducing agent, at a close of 0.2 mmol/kg to 3 dams on day 13 of gestation resulted, after 12 h, in an imbalance of the dNTP-pool in the fetal livers: dCTP 38.68 +/- 5.22, dTTP 7.60 +/- 0.61, dATP 8.04 +/- 0.58, and dGTP 1.44 +/- 0.18. This perturbed profile was consistent with that known in the actions o f 6-fluorouracil on tissue cells.