Carcinogenesis, Vol 18, 1825-1832, Copyright © 1997 by Oxford University Press
P Gerde, BA Muggenburg, JR Thornton-Manning, JL Lewis, KH Pyon and AR Dahl
While tobacco smoke has been conclusively identified as a lung carcinogen,
there is much debate over which smoke constituent(s) are primarily
responsible for its carcinogenicity. Previous studies in our laboratory
suggested that highly lipophilic carcinogens are slowly absorbed in the
thicker epithelium of the conducting airways, potentially allowing for
substantial local metabolism. The bioactivation of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons in airway epithelium may, hence, be important in tobacco
smoke-induced carcinogenesis. In the present study, the hypothesis of slow
absorption and substantial local metabolic activation of highly lipophilic
carcinogen in airway epithelium was tested in dogs. A single dose of
tritiated benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) dissolved in a saline/phospholipid
suspension was instilled in the trachea, just anterior to the carina. At
intervals of a few minutes up to 30 min over a 3-h period, blood samples
were drawn from the azygous vein, which drains the area around the point of
instillation, and from the systemic circulation. Tissue samples were taken
at the end of the experiment. The concentration of BaP with depth into the
tracheal mucosa was determined with autoradiography. BaP was slowly
absorbed into the trachea with a half-time of approximately 73 min, which
is consistent with diffusion-limited passage through the epithelium and
lead to local doses in the tracheal epithelium that were more than a
1000-fold those of other tissues. The long retention of BaP in the
epithelium provided the local metabolizing enzymes with high substrate
levels over a long period, resulting in extensive metabolism. At 3 h after
the exposure, 23% of the BaP-equivalent activity remained in the tracheal
mucosa. Of this fraction, 13% was parent compound, 28% was organic
extractable, 31% was water-soluble, and 28-7% of the instilled dose was
bound to tracheal tissues. These results explain the tendency of highly
lipophilic carcinogens, such as BaP, to induce tumors at the site of entry
and, furthermore, indicate that the highly lipophilic components of tobacco
smoke and polluted air may be the most important contributors to lung
tumors of the conducting airways.
ARTICLES
Benzo[a]pyrene at an environmentally relevant dose is slowly absorbed by, and extensively metabolized in, tracheal epithelium
Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA.
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