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In order to investigate the chemical nature and diversity of the mutagens in ambient airborne particles (AAP) and coal fly ash (CFA), extracts of these particles were subjected to bioassay-directed fractionation. Open-column as well as high-pressure liquid chromatography were used as fractionation techniques after purification by means of liquid-liquid partition. Extracts and fractions were tested with the Salmonella /microsome test using various tester strains, among them TA98NR and analysed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and some nitrated PAH. Seven distinct groups of mutagens could be discerned in AAP. Two of them were identified as PAH and mono-nitro PAH; the first accounted for about 5% of the total effect in TA98 with S9 and about 20% of the total effect in TA100 with S9. For the mono-nitro PAH, these percentages were about 12, 24, 14 and 13 for TA98 with and without S9 and TA100 with and without S9, respectively. A significant contribution of dinitropyrenes (possibly together with other multiply nitrated PAH) could be ruled out. Five more polar groups of mutagens could be isolated in AAP, which showed clearly nitroreductase-dependent direct mutagenicity. Besides direct-acting nitrocompounds, these groups also comprised indirect acting compounds (S9 depenent); possibly, but not necessarily, these are also nitro-compounds. The distribution of the mutagenicity over the various active chromatographical fractions was clearly strain and S9 dependent. The use of strains TA100 and TA97 pointed to the importance of indirect mutagens, also for the more polar fractions. PAH did not significantly contribute to the mutagenicity of CFA. These particles contained two groups of mutagens that were not found in AAP: a group, the effect of which is most probably caused by dinitropyrenes and comparable compounds and a polar group containing nitro-reductase dependent direct mutagens.

The ability of aflatoxins B1 and G1 to induce back mutations to arg+ in Escherichia coli K-12/343/113 was compared with the induction of mitotic gene conversion to ade+ in the diploid yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae D4, ade-2. In analogy to previous results with other microorganisms, the compounds were not genetically active per se, indicating that under the experimental conditions employed none of the tester strains were able to activate the compounds to mutagenic products. In experiments using liver homogenates (S-9 fraction) of male Golden Syrian hamsters previously treated with phenobarbital, aflatoxin B1 exhibited strong genetic activity both in E. coli and in S. cerevisiae, whereas the mutagenic activity of aflatoxin G1 was markedly lower and could be detected only in the E. coli tester strain. These results correlate the findings that aflatoxin G1 is a less potent carcinogen and mutagen than aflatoxin B1.

The activation of nitrofurans to mutagenic intermediates by testicular tissue was investigated. AF-2 and nitrofurazone were tested in a microsomal suspension assay with strain E. coli K-12 343/113 as indicator and subcellular fractions from rabbit testes. Different mutation patterns were observed in the presence or absence of testicular homogenate, indicating the presence of different mutagenic intermediates. The frequency of arg + reversion increased proportionally to the homogenate concentration suggesting that the nitrofurans were activated by testicular components to intermediates that induced base-pair substitutions. Other experiments showed that a component of low molecular weight, present in the soluble fraction of homogenates of testes from rabbits, rats and monkeys, was responsible for the increased mutation frequency. It is concluded that this “co-mutagen-like” factor either alters the metabolism of nitrofurans in E. coli and/or promotes the formation of base-pair substitution-type mutations. This direct interaction between a non-enzymic component of mammalian testes and the mutation induction/expression process in E. coli suggests the role of co-mutagen-like factors in the sensitivity of testes to nitrofurans.