Anti-mutagenic chalcones: antagonizing the mutagenicity of benzo(a)pyrene on Salmonella typhimurium

Several chalcone derivatives; e.g. Ro 09-0204, Ro 09-0323 and Ro 09-0501 were found to reduce markedly the revertant increase of Salmonella typhimurium TA100 by benzo(a)pyrene during the incubation with S-9 Mix. The antimutagenic activity was 100 - 700 times stronger than that of L-ascorbic acid. Effect on other mutagens, the structure activity relationship and the possible mechanism of action are briefly discussed.