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. 1981 Feb;78(2):940–942. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.2.940

Specificity of chemiluminescence in the metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene to its carcinogenic diol epoxide.

J P Hamman, H H Seliger, G H Posner
PMCID: PMC319920  PMID: 6785756

Abstract

The metabolism of 7,8-dihydroxy-7,8-dihydrobenzo[a]pyrene results primarily in the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite of benzo[a]pyrene, 7,8-dihydroxy-9,10-oxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene and to a lesser extent 7,8-dihydroxy-9,10-dioxetane-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene, from which chemiluminescence is observed. This specific microsomal chemiluminescence has been used to establish that the rate-limiting reaction in the metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene to the bay region diol epoxide is the production of the 7,8-diol. The microsome-mediated chemiluminescence of the parent benzo[a]pyrene is therefore an indicator of the activity of the specific sequence of metabolic reactions leading to the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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