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Dryad

DNA adducts form in mouse lung and liver after oral naphthalene exposure

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Jul 14, 2025 version files 18.27 KB

Abstract

Naphthalene is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant and suspected carcinogen that forms DNA adducts in tissue explants, which is a mechanism of concern for genotoxicity, but it was not known if naphthalene could form DNA adducts in vivo. Naphthalene-DNA adducts are small and difficult to detect, so we utilized accelerator mass spectrometry to detect adducts with high sensitivity.  Wild-type C57BL/6 mice were orally exposed to 50 mg/kg 14C-naphthalene, lung and liver were collected 2, 4, 24, or 72 hours post-exposure, then DNA was isolated from the tissue. DNA was then processed for accelerator mass spectrometry analysis following standard protocols, explained in detail in Domanico et al. (2025)(doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfaf017). Resulting measurements of 14C signal in these DNA samples comprise this dataset, and can be used to calculate the level of DNA adduct formation in tissue. We detected naphthalene-DNA adducts at various timepoints post-exposure, with levels decreasing over time, though a subset of DNA adducts still persisted to 72 hours post-exposure in both lung and liver. Evidence of naphthalene-DNA adduct formation in vivo provides a foundation for further studies into the potential genotoxic mechanism of naphthalene.