Mutagenicity of pyrolysates from guanidine, ureide, secondary amines and polyamines found by the...

Nitrogenous compounds such as guanidine, ureide, secondary amines and polyamines were pyrolysed at 300, 400, 500 and 600 degrees C for 3 min, and the mutagenic activities of the pyrolysates were assayed on Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 with or without metabolic activation by S9 mix. Among 21 pyrolysates tested, 14, from methylguanidine, agmatine, dihydrouracil, dimethylamine, diethylamine, trimethylamine, triethylamine, pyrrolidine, morpholine, sarcosine, piperazine, piperidine, spermine and spermidine, showed mutagenic activity. In the presence of S9 mix, the mutagenic activity began to appear from the pyrolysate at 400 degrees C, and the pyrolysate at 600 degrees C showed the highest mutagenic activity except that from methylguanidine. The mutagenic activity formed by pyrolysis was more active on TA98 than TA100. In the absence of S9 mix, only 3 pyrolysates - from dimethylamine, diethylamine and pyrrolidine - showed slight mutagenic activity toward TA100. The highest mutagenic activity was observed with the pyrolysate from spermine, followed by those from piperidine, spermidine, piperazine and triethylamine. Some nitrogenous compounds showed slight mutagenic activity after pyrolysis at 300 degrees C for 20 min, although none of the compounds tested showed any mutagenic activity after pyrolysis at 300 degrees C for 3 min.