Identification of mutagens in Japanese pickles.
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.
Takenaka
S
S
Fukuoka Environmental Research Centre, Japan.
Sera
N
N
Tokiwa
H
H
Hirohata
I
I
Hirohata
T
T
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*
D009153:Mutagens; D011794:Quercetin