Specificity of antimutagens against chemical mutagens in microbial systems

Procedures have been developed which enable the study of antimutagenic specificity of certain antimutagenic chemicals against chemical mutagens/carcinogens. Modifications of the Ames Salmonella assay, the Bacillis subtilis rec assay of Kada and co-workers, and the Luria-Delbrück fluctuation test, along with procedures we have developed utilizing E. coli K12 strain ND160 developed by Dworkin, all are employed in these studies. Using these procedures, a number of naturally-occurring compounds and/or their derivatives have been shown to produce antimutagenic specificity either against changes at different specific genetic loci or against activity of specific chemical mutagens such as nitrofurazone, ethyl methanesulfonate, or caffeine. Compounds that demonstrate this activity include cinnamaldehyde, chlorophyllin, an extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra, spermine, and mixtures of guanosine and cytidine. The data demonstrate that some antimutagens act specifically against spontaneous mutations, while others inhibit the development of chemically-induced mutations at specific loci. These results have potential application to the prevention of chemical toxicological damage.