title: Mutagenic potency of heterocyclic amines towards Salmonella typhimurium; possible causes of variability in the results observed.
abstract: The potent food mutagens and carcinogens 2-amino-3-methylimidazol[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ), 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (MEIQ) and 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) are probably the most active bacterial mutagens so far discovered. Important discrepancies were found, however, in the specific mutagenicities published for these compounds. This paper analyzes a number of experimental factors that could explain these differences: purity of the compounds, stability under the experimental conditions employed, solvents used, bacterial toxicity, testing procedure, amount and age of the S9 fraction, dose-effect relationships, day-to-day variability, origin of the compounds investigated or of the bacterial strain and age of the strain culture used. None of these factors was found to play a critical role, when the other experimental conditions were strictly standardized. The in-house testing procedure used probably explains the interlaboratory variations observed.
authors.affiliation: Université Catholique de Louvain, Département de Pharmacie, UCL-72.37, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brams
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Meester
mesh_terms: D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens / Q000633:toxicity*; D011804:Quinolines / Q000633:toxicity*; D011810:Quinoxalines / Q000633:toxicity*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens; D011804:Quinolines; D011810:Quinoxalines; C029216:2-amino-3-methylimidazo(4,5-f)quinoline; C036990:2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo(4,5-f)quinoxaline; C036989:2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo(4,5-f)quinoline