Metabolic studies on 6-methylaminopurine.

and in mice bearing Ehrlich ascites tumor has been investigated. The results indicate that the exogenous compound is utilized equally well for the synthesis of both adenine and guanine of deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid. No evidence for the incor poration of intact 6-methylaminopurine into the nucleic acids of liver, kidney, spleen, intestine, or tumor cells was obtained. The principal excretory products were 2,8dihydroxy-6-methylaminopurine, plus allantoin and uric acid, derived from adenine and guanine. The metabolic activity of tumor cells studied in these experiments was qualitatively similar to, but quantitatively greater than, that of normal tissues.