We determined whether DNA adducts derived from 4-nitropyrene (4-NP) are formed via nitroreduction or ring oxidation. DNA adduct markers derived from both pathways were prepared and, consequently, were compared with those obtained in vivo in rats treated with 4-NP. Following in vitro reaction of 9,10-epoxy-9,10-dihydro-4-nitropyrene (4-NP-9,10-epoxide), an intermediate metabolite derived from ring oxidation of 4-NP, with calf thymus DNA (average level of binding in two determinations was 8.5 nmol/mg of DNA), DNA was enzymatically hydrolyzed to deoxyribonucleosides and the DNA hydrolysates were analyzed by HPLC. Electrospray mass and 1H NMR spectra of the major products indicated that these adducts are deoxyguanosine (dG) derivatives that resulted from N2-dG substitution at the 9- or 10-position of the pyrene nucleus. However, these adducts were not detected in vivo in the rat mammary gland and liver following the administration of 4-NP. Nitroreduction of 4-NP catalyzed by xanthine oxidase in the presence of DNA resulted in three major putative DNA adducts (level of binding of 12.0 +/- 1.1 nmol/mg of DNA, n = 4) designated as peak 1 (46%), peak 2 (25%), and peak 3 (17%). Although peak 1 was further resolved into peaks 1a and 1b, both were unstable and gradually decomposed to peak 2, and the latter was unequivocally identified as pyrene-4,5-dione. On the basis of electrospray mass spectral analysis, peak 3 was tentatively identified as a deoxyinosine-derived 4-aminopyrene adduct. None of the adducts derived from nitroreduction of 4-NP catalyzed by xanthine oxidase coeluted with the synthetic standard N-(deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-4-aminopyrene prepared by reacting dG with N-acetoxy-4-aminopyrene. Nevertheless, HPLC analysis of the hydrolysates of liver and mammary DNA obtained from rats treated with [3H]-4-NP yielded four radioactive peaks, all of which coeluted with the markers derived from the nitroreduction pathway. These results indicate that nitroreduction is primarily responsible for DNA adduct formation in the liver and, especially, in the mammary gland which is the organ susceptible to carcinogenesis by this environmental agent.