Qualitative and quantitative analyses of volatiles and pheromone gland extracts collected fromGalleria mellonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae).

Chemical analyses of pheromone-gland extracts and volatiles released by maleGalleria mellonella (L.), the greater wax moth, resulted in the identification and quantification of the aldehydes, primary alcohols, and fatty acids of nonane and undecane. Adult females released none of these six compounds. Mean percentages of the aldehydes and alcohols in the gland extracts were 19.0% undecanal, 3.9% nonanal, 48.3% 1-undecanol, and 28.8% 1-nonanol. Mean percentages of the aldehydes and alcohols in volatiles collected during the first hour of scotophase from moths 1 to 9 days old were 77.4% undecanal, 20.8% nonanal, 1.46% 1-undecanol, and 0.36% 1-nonanol. Age did not significantly affect the amount of each compound collected. The collection of volatiles from moths 3 to 5 days old during a 12-hr scotophase indicated that production was greatest during the first and third quarters of the period. Methylation of group volatile samples allowed the quantification of the fatty acids.

Mutagenicity of thionitrites in the Ames test. The biological activity of thiyl free radicals.

Thiols, such as glutathione and cysteine, are mutagenic in the Ames test, using Salmonella typhimurium strain TA 100 and rat kidney S-9 preparation [Glatt et al. Science 220, (1983)]. Formation of thiyl free radicals, RS., has been implicated in this effect. We have prepared thionitrite (nitrosylmercaptan) derivatives of glutathione and other thiols. These unstable derivatives decompose by homolysis, yielding RS. radicals. Glutathione thionitrite is mutagenic to strains TA 100 and TA 102, in the absence of activation by mammalian S-9 preparations. We suggest that this mutagenicity is evidence for the role of thiyl free radicals as biological reactive intermediates. Since alkyl nitrites readily convert thiols to thionitrites, our findings have implications for the toxicology of nitrosating drugs, such as amyl nitrite.

Comparative metabolism and mutagenicity of azo and hydrazone dyes in the Ames test.

Enteric bacterial and hepatic azoreductase enzymes are capable of reducing azo dyes to yield the constituent aromatic amines. Azo dyes based on benzidine and benzidine congeners have received particular attention because of their widespread use and the known carcinogenicity of benzidine to humans. Azo dyes based on beta-diketone coupling components exist preferentially as the tautomeric hydrazones. A series of hydrazone dyes based on benzidine and benzidine congeners was prepared and characterized by NMR and UV-visible spectroscopy. These dyes were tested for mutagenicity using a modified Ames assay and, unlike the true azo dyes, showed no significant mutagenic activity. The hydrazone dyes were resistant to enzymatic reduction by FMN-supplemented hamster-liver post-mitochondrial supernatant (S-9); under identical conditions, azo dyes such as trypan blue were rapidly reduced.