In vitro mutagenicity assays of chemical carcinogens and related compounds with Salmonella typhimurium

ABSTRACT-The mutagenic activity of 101 chemicals was stud-Ied wHh the use of the Salmonella Iyphlmurlum-mlcrosome sys-tem described by Ames. The tester strains were TA1535, TA1536, TA1537, TA1538, TA98, and TA1OO. Assays were conducted In the presence and absence of a metabolic activation system pre-pared from the live,. of randomly bred Sprague-Dawley rats that had been pretreated with Aroclor 1254. The test chemlcels were Incorporated Into the agar with bacteria and the metabolic activa-tion system. Mutagens were defined as chemicals that Induced a reproducible dose-related Increase In the number of hlstldlne-Independent revertants. With the use of these procedures, 65 % of the organic carcinogens and 25 % of the noncerclnogens were found to be mutagenlc.-J Natl Cancer Inst 62: 893-899, 1979. The use of histidine-requiring mutants of Salmonella typhimurium to detect chemicals that are potentia