Inhibition by butylated hydroxytoluene and its oxidative metabolites of DMBA-induced mammary tumorigenesis and of mammary DMBA-DNA adduct formation in vivo in the female rat.

The phenolic food antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) has been reported to inhibit the initiation stage of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary tumorigenesis in the female rat. However, the mechanism for this antitumorigenic effect of BHT is unknown. The present studies were conducted to evaluate the relative effect of the parent chemical BHT and two of its major oxidative metabolites, 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxymethylphenol (BHT-BzOH) and 2,6-di-tert-butyl-1,4-benzoquinone (BHT-quinone), on DMBA-induced rat mammary tumorigenesis and on the formation of rat mammary DMBA-DNA adducts in vivo. The ip administration of either BHT or BHT-quinone at 200 mg/kg body weight for 2 wk before until 1 wk after DMBA administration inhibited the development of mammary tumours as compared with controls. The extent of tumour inhibition by BHT (39%) was greater than that exhibited by BHT-quinone (25%). The administration of BHT-BzOH at 200 mg/kg body weight did not inhibit mammary tumorigenesis. Thus, the inhibition of DMBA-induced mammary tumorigenesis by BHT does not appear to be mediated by the oxidative BHT metabolites BHT-BzOH or BHT-quinone. In addition, there was a good quantitative correlation between the inhibition of mammary tumorigenesis by BHT and BHT-quinone and their respective abilities to decrease total binding in vivo of DMBA to mammary DNA. The inhibition of specific mammary DMBA-DNA adducts by BHT was not identical to the inhibition of adducts by BHT-quinone. However, the decrease in formation of the major mammary adduct derived from the anti-dihydrodiolepoxide of DMBA bound to deoxy-guanosine most closely correlated to the relative abilities of BHT and BHT-quinone to inhibit mammary tumorigenesis. When mammary adduct formation was examined in response to BHT dose, the administration of BHT at doses of 100 mg/kg body weight and 200 mg/kg body weight resulted in the inhibition of anti-derived but not syn-derived mammary DMBA-DNA adducts. Together, these studies suggest that in addition to the inhibition of total mammary DMBA-DNA adduct formation, the inhibition of mammary DNA adducts formed from the anti-dihydrodiolepoxide of DMBA also may be specifically important in the inhibitory effect of BHT on DMBA-induced mammary tumorigenesis.