Mutagenicity of urine from rats and mice treated with acrylonitrile

Urines collected from rats and mice treated with acrylonitrile (ACN) were mutagenic towards Salmonella typhimurium strain TA 1530 in the absence of a metabolic activation system. When assayed in the presence of a liver S9 mix, this activity was suppressed when the urines were obtained from acrylonitrile treated rats, and decreased when these urines were collected from acrylonitrile treated mice. Pretreatment of the animals with phenobarbital abolished the direct mutagenicity of urines from acrylonitrile treated rats, and reduced that observed with mice urines. Addition of beta-glucuronidase to the incubation mixtures enhanced the mutagenicity of the urines from both phenobarbital untreated and treated rats and mice injected with acrylonitrile.