Genotoxicity of nitrosamines

We profiled the gene expression in eight chicken embryo livers in the 11th day of incubation. The eggs were injected on postincubation days 9, 10 and 11 with 4mg activation-dependent DNA reactive diethylnitrosamine (DEN) or its structural non-carcinogenic comparator, N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA)DEN in 0.15 ml/egg deionized water. We found that both compounds induced simmilar massive transcriptomic alterations in the xenobioatic metabolism pathways when comparing with reference data in eggs injected with the vehicle only (deionized water). Differently labelled biological replicas were co-hybridized with the same microarray. Expression of genes in similarly labeled samples of the two conditions were compared and the results averaged.