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DETECTION OF DIRECTOR-ACTING MUTAGENS IN AMBIENT AIR - A COMPARISON OF TWO HIGHLY SENSITIVE MUTAGENICITY ASSAYS
Citation:
Houk, V., L. Claxton, J. Lewtas, S. Goto, O. Endo, AND H. Mastusushita. DETECTION OF DIRECTOR-ACTING MUTAGENS IN AMBIENT AIR - A COMPARISON OF TWO HIGHLY SENSITIVE MUTAGENICITY ASSAYS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-93/370 (NTIS PB93228963).
Description:
Ambient air has been shown to contain numerous hazardous pollutants, many of which are carcinogens and mutagens. n this study, 2 Salmonella test methods (the spiral an preincubation assays) were assessed to determine their usefulness as screening methods for monitoring mutagens in ambient air. he spiral assay automates the conventional plate-incorporation assay and has been shown to reduce the labor, materials, and sample; mass required to perform mutagenicity testing. he preincubation assay has been shown to enhance test sensitivity for several compounds, thereby reducing the amount of sample required for dose-response analysis. oth assays were used to test organic extracts of airborne particulate matter collected in Tokyo during the winters of 1988 and 1990. n addition to tester strains TA98 and TA100, 2 newly developed YG strains were evaluated. trains YG1024 and YG1029--derived from TA98 and TA100, respectively--contain an acetyltransferase plasmid that confers upon the strains greater sensitivity towards nitroarenes. esults from this study indicated that both assays were able to detect direct-acting mutagens in the Tokyo air samples. he mutagenic activity associated with the samples was directly related to the particle mass present in a given volume of air. utagenic activity was greater in the spiral assay relative to the preincubation assay, especially when YG tester strains were used. he YG strains were significantly more ,sensitive to mutation than the TA strains in both assays, which suggests that nitroaromatics are an important class of genotoxic contaminant present in Tokyo air.