On the Trail of Mutations A at MIT "Basically, the way this center operates is that it starts with human disease and works backwards to a dear and probable cause," says Director William Thilly describing MIT's Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS). "If the problem stems from a genetic mutation, then we try to figure out what caused that mutation-exogenous chemicals, endogenous chemica...

A cup of coffee contains mutagens which produce about 5 X 10(4)-10(5) revertants of Salmonella typhimurium TA 100 without S9 mix. One of the mutagens was identified to be methylglyoxal. Methylglyoxal was present in various beverages such as black tea, whisky, and brandy. Methylglyoxal itself induced tumors in rats when administered by subcutaneous injection. However, the mutagenic properties of...

Dear Editors and Authors, I had the pleasure to read the published article entitled [1] "Dietary Intake of Meat Cooking-Related Mutagens (HCAs) and Risk of Colorectal Adenoma and Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" [...].

Fish/Radiosensitivity/Colony formation/Mutagens The sensitivities of three goldfish-cell lines to the lethal effects of four carcinogens/mutagens; 4-nitro quinoline-1-oxide (4NQO), 1-methyl-3-nitro-l-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), mitomycin C (MMC) and bleo mycin (BLM), were compared using colony-formation assay. RBCF-1 and CAF-MM1 cells were more sensitive to 4NQO, BLM and UV than were GEM 199 cells...

The Salmonella typhimurium microsomal test system for mutagenic activity was successfully used to detect the presence of mutagenic compounds in the smoke condensates of several types of cigarettes. The condensates were shown to contain compounds which could cause frameshift mutations when activated by microsomal enzymes. An analysis of fractions of smoke condensate revealed that the detected mu...

A method is described for concentrating mutagens/carcinogens from human urine about 200-fold for subsequent assay in the Salmonella/mammalian microsome mutagenicity test. The method is also applicable for other aqueous liquids and for other in vitro tests for mutagens/carcinogens. The urine (up to 500 ml) is put through a column with a 1.5-cm3 bed volume of XAD-2 (styrene-divinylbenzene polymer...

In mammalian cells, one of the most sensitive indicators of exposure to mutagenic carcinogens has been the induction of cytogenetic effects, chromosome aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs). Some mutagens, such as ionizing radiations that induce double-strand breaks in DNA are very efficient at inducing chromosome aberrations and can induce them at all stages of the cell cycle. Some...

Acetoxy esters of purine W-oxides inactivate and induce mutations in Bacillus jwà ̈n/Ã1-transforming DNA. The es ters were the chemical models available for the sulfate es ters believed to be formed in vivo. When metabolic suscep tibilities were taken into consideration, there is a reasonable correlation between the mutagenicity of various acetoxy es ters and the oncogenicity of the parent W-oxi...

O'NEIL, J. 1956 Master's Thesis, Department of Food Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. PALADINO, S., UGOLINI, F., AND CHAIN, E. B. 1954 Fermentors of 90 and 300 L capacity for vortex and sparger aeration. Rend. Ist. Super. Sanith. 17, 87-120. (Eng. Ed.). PFEIFER, V. F., VOJNOVICH, C., AND HEGER, E. N. 1952 Itaconic acid by fermentation with Aspergillus terreus. ...