Abstract: Whether nicotine undergoes in vivo nitrosation transforming carcinogens is still a pending problem. We report the effect of nitrosation on DNA adduction with nicotine in vivo and in vitro studied by accelerator mass spectrometry(AMS) and liquid scintillation counting technique, using ¹⁴C labeled nicotine as a tracer. Our results show that under simulated acidic gastric condition and other proper conditions, nicotine could be nitrosated, thus enhancing its genotoxicity. But this process significantly depends on the dose level of nitrite. When NaNO₂ dose lowers to in vivo level, the nitrosation process is too weak to be detected. When NaNO₂ dose raises, it increases the formation of DNA adducts, thus enhancing the genotoxicity of nicotine.

Key words: nicotine, nitrosation, DNA adducts, genotoxicity

关键词: 尼古丁, 亚硝化, DNA加合物, 基因毒性