Activation of aromatic amines to mutagens by bovine bladder and liver cells

A bovine bladder cell-mediated mutagenesis system using Chinese hamster V79 cells and Salmonella typhimurium as target organisms was developed to investigate the capacity of the bladder urothelium to activate chemical carcinogens. Bovine bladder epithelial cells can activate the aromatic amines AF and 4-ABP to intermediates which mutate V79 cells and S. typhimurium TA 98 and TA 100. DMBA was mutagenic to V79 cells but not detectably mutagenic to either Salmonella strain with bladder cell activation. The chemicals tested were not mutagenic to either target organism in the absence of bladder cells. In contrast to the response with DMBA, S. typhimurium was a more sensitive target for the arylamines than V79 cells. These data suggest the value of using multiple end points for assessing metabolic capability. The activation capability of intact bladder cells was compared to disrupted cells, and S-9 prepared from bladder cells used with and without cofactors. When intact cells or S-9 plus cofactors were used as the activation system a dose-dependent increase in revertants was observed for 4-ABP. A bovine liver cell-mediated bacterial mutagenesis system was also developed and the liver and bladder systems compared. For AF, bladder cells appear to be at least ten times more active per viable cell than hepatocytes in producing mutagenic intermediates, while 4-ABP is essentially not mutagenic in the hepatocyte-mediated system. A quantitative comparison of the relative importance of the liver and bladder to activate the chemicals is difficult to make but the data indicate the ability of the bladder epithelium to activate bladder carcinogens.