ABSTRACT
Two structurally related food additives, 3-(5-nitro-2-furyl)acrylic acid (5-NFAA) and 2-(2-furyl)-3-(5-nitro-2-furyl)acrylamide (AF-2) showed a marked mutagenic effect on Salmonella typhimurium strains TA100 and TA98 and Escherichia coli WP2 uvrA+ and WP2 uvrA. On the molar basis 5-NFAA was about two orders of magnitude less effective than AF-2. In Salmonella typhimurium TA100 anaerobic conditions stimulated the mutagenic effect of 5-NFAA which was more pronounced in nitrofuran-reductase deficient strain of Salmonella typhimurium TA100 FR50. 5-NFAA increased the number of isoleucine revertants and induced mitotic recombination at tryptophan, threonine and adenine loci of the diploid strains Saccharomyces cerevisiae a/b and Saccharomyces cerevisiae SBTD. Activity of 5-NFAA was lower than that of AF-2. The test on sex-linked recessive lethal mutations in Drosophila melanogaster indicated that only 5-NFAA is mutagenic, increasing the mutation frequency about 10-fold above the control. Results with AF-2 fell within the control range.
Subject(s)
Acrylates/toxicity , Food Preservatives/toxicity , Furylfuramide/toxicity , Mutagens , Nitrofurans/toxicity , Animals , Chromosome Aberrations , Drosophila melanogaster , Escherichia coli/drug effects , Humans , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , In Vitro Techniques , Lymphocytes/drug effects , Mutation , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/drug effects , Salmonella typhimurium/drug effectsABSTRACT
There is a pronounced difference between the action of antibiotics and nitrofurans on Euglena gracilis. Those antibiotics that induce hereditary loss of chloroplasts do so only when they affect dividing cells. On the other hand, nitrofurans induce a mass mutation in both dividing and nondividing cells (under conditions of continuous illumination of cultures). It was found that a breakdown product, 5-nitro-2-furaldehyde, is liberated from furadantin and furoxone. This intermediate is responsible for the observed specific mutagenicity of 5-nitrofuran drugs. The mutagenic action of 5-nitro-2-furaldehyde is very similar to that of nitrosoguanidine. Both compounds induce bleached mutants of E. gracilis when acting on growing or resting cells, regardless of the dark or light conditions. Similarly, both compounds induce reverse mutations in auxotrophic strains of Mycobacterium phlei.
