title: Identification of mutagens in Japanese pickles.
abstract: A total of 108 samples of pickles, which were produced in districts with high and low incidences of stomach cancer in Japan, were extracted with methanol-chloroform. The extracts were bioassayed with Salmonella tester strains. The pickles produced in the high-cancer-incidence district were more mutagenic than those produced in the low-incidence district. The most mutagenic sample among 24 pickle specimens collected in the high-incidence district induced 130 revertants/mg of the crude extract for strain TA98. The mutagenic compounds were purified, and 2 flavonols, quercetin and rhamnetin, were identified as the major mutagens in the pickles by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The quantities of the 2 compounds were determined as 6.60 mg for quercetin, and 1.96 mg for rhamnetin per gram of the crude extract. The mutagenic activities of the pickles produced in the 2 districts were closely related to the amounts of quercetin in them.
authors.affiliation: Fukuoka Environmental Research Centre, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takenaka
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sera
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tokiwa
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hirohata
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirohata
mesh_terms: D001711:Biotransformation; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005504:Food Analysis; D005519:Food Preservation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens / Q000032:analysis*; D011794:Quercetin / Q000032:analysis; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000187:drug effects; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens; D011794:Quercetin