Bacteria, mutagenic activity

Shigaeva MK, Savitskaya IS. 1981. Comparative study of the mutagenic activity of some organophosphoms insecticides in bacteria. Tsitol Genet 15 68-72. 

NishiokaH. 1975. Mutagenic activities of metal compounds in bacteria. MutRes 31 185-189. 

Principe et al. 1981 Rosenkranz 1977). The mutagenicity of 1,2-dibromoethane in bacteria was not influenced by mammalian metabolizing systems in four out of five studies (Barber et al. 1981 Moriya et al. 1983 Principe et al. 1981 Stolzenberg and Mine 1980). However, detection of its mutagenic activity is influenced by the amount of glutathione present (Kerklaan et al. 1985 Zoetemelk et al. 

Genotoxicity. 1,2-Dibromoethane has been tested for mutagenic activity in a battery of in vitro and in vivo assay systems. It is mutagenic in bacteria, fungi, fruit flies, and cultured mammalian cells (Ames andYanofasky 1971 Barber 1981 Brimeret al. 1982 Crespi etal. 1985 Moriya etal. 1983 ... 

Malonaldehyde induced mutation in bacteria that were either DNA repair competent or were sensitive to oxidative DNA damage. It had been suggested previously that all or part of the activity might be attributable to impurities, which occur as a result of malonaldehyde instability. However, specially purified or specially synthesized malonaldehyde continued to show mutagenic activity in A typhimurium his D3052 (Basu Mamett, 1983). 

A quick test for mutagenic activity makes use of tester strains of bacteria developed by Ames and associates. These are Salmonella mutants that are unable to synthesize their own histidine, but which... 

Nitrous acid, HN02, is an example of a chemical mutagen that is often used to cause mutations in bacteria. To understand the mutagenic activity of nitrous acid, it should be noted that three of... 

Aristolochic acid I and aristolochic acid II are mutagenic in several test systems. A mixture of these two compounds was so highly carcinogenic in rats that even homeopathic Aristolochia dilutions have been banned from the German market. The closely related aristolac-tam I and aristolactam II have not been submitted to carcinogenicity testing, but these compounds similarly show mutagenic activity in bacteria. 

Several of the Brassicaceae contain allyl isothiocyanate, which is a potent irritant and has mutagenic activity in bacteria and fetotoxic and carcinogenic effects in rats. However, as allyl isothiocyanate also occurs in ordinary mustard, it would not be realistic to ban aU botanical drugs that contain it, since they commonly provide no more than a normal daily dose of mustard (for example 5 mg of allyl isothiocyanate per 5 g of mustard). 

Safrole is a mutagenic and animal carcinogenic monoterpenoid. It is the major component of oil of sassafras, and lesser quantities occur in essential oils from cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and star anise. Some of its known or possible metabolites have mutagenic activity in bacteria and it has weak hepatocarcinogenic effects in rodents. Experiments in mice have suggested the possibility of transplacental and lactational carcinogenesis. 

Crude oil did not increase the number of sister chromatid exchanges in cultured human lymphocytes. However, in studies of mice treated in vivo crude oil did cause an increase in the number of sister chromatid exchanges at the highest dose tested. No effects were observed in bone-marrow cells or sperm. Sister chromatid exchanges were caused by the aromatic fraction of crude oil in cultured mammalian cells. Crude oil extracts did not induce mutation in bacteria. However, the neutral fractions of crude oil which contain aromatic or polycyclic aromatic compounds generally had mutagenic activity in bacteria. 

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