Quantitative relationship between carcinogenicity and mutagenicity of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in Salmonella...

Mutagenic activities of various polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in air pollutants, which are different in carcinogenic activities from each other, were examined with a set of four strains of Salmonella typhimurium (TAI535 series; deep rough strains without excision repair). All the compounds tested were converted to frameshift mutagens when they were metabolized by rat liver homogenate. There was a clear quantitative correlation between carcinogenicity and mutagenicity of PAHs tested in strain TAI538 using the rat liver enzyme induced with both dibenz(a,h)-anthracene and phenobarbital. On the other hand, such a correlation was not obvious in strain TAI537.