Genotoxic properties of 2,4,7-trinitro-9-fluorenone

The genotoxic effects of 2,4,7-trinitro-9-fluorenone (TNF) were studied in assays employing procaryotic (Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli) and eucaryotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mouse lymphoma L5178Y and Chinese hamster ovary) cells. The results show that TNF is a potent mutagen for procaryotes. It causes both frame-shift and base-pair substitution mutations, although frame-shift mutations were predominant. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, this compound appeared to be too toxic to permit detection of genotoxic effects. TNF was also toxic to mouse lymphoma cells and Chinese hamster ovary cells but the toxic effects were reduced by metabolic activation. TNF induced a clear increase in sister-chromatid exchanges in CHO cells and in mutant frequency in mouse lymphoma cells both in the presence and absence of metabolic activation.