Enhancement of the Mutagenicity of Ethylene Oxide and Several Directly Acting Mutagens by Human Erythrocytes and its Reduction by Xenobiotic Interaction

According to the present state of knowledge mutagenicity or genotoxicity of the ulti mate genotoxic agents ethylene oxide or styrene oxide cannot be increased by further me tabolism. However, in the present study we demonstrate that mutagenicity of several ultimate genotoxic substances is increased by human erythrocytes. For instance mu tagenicity of mafosfamide, N-nitroso-N-methylurea, ethylene oxide, and styrene oxide to Salmonella typhimurium TA 1535 was increased 5.5-, 5.1-, 2.7-, and 2.3-fold, respectively, by addition of human erythrocyte homogenate to the preincubation mixture in the Ames test. On the other hand, the mutagenicity of cumene hydroperoxide, benzo[a]pyrene-4,5-oxide, and…