Urinary excretion of frameshift mutagens in rats caused by passive smoking

Several male Wistar rats were individually placed in a chamber resembling a room provided with minimal air flow. They were exposed separately to the main- and sidestream smoke of a commercial brand of cigarettes smoked by a smoking machine. Exposure to both sidestream and mainstream smoke of at least two cigarettes resulted in significant excretions of frameshift mutagens in urine within 24 h, detected by the bacterial microtiter fluctuation test with Salmonella typhimurium TA1538. Doubling exposure to the mainstream smoke resulted in similar quantitative mutagenic activities. Doubling exposure to the sidestream smoke resulted in reduced water intake by the animals and thus toxic effects of the urine concentrates on the test bacteria.