MUTAGENIC EFFECTS OF 2 NITROFURAN FOOD PRESERVATIVES

  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 29  (6) , 675-684
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 as well as on Escherichia coli WP2 uvrA+ and WP2 uvrA. On the basis 5-NFAA was .apprx. 2 orders of magnitude less effective than AF-2. In S. typhimurium TA100 anaerobic conditions stimulated the mutagenic effect of 5-NFAA which was more pronounced in nitrofuran-reductase deficient strain of S. typhimurium TA100 FR50. 5-NFAA increased the number of isoleucine revertants and induced mitotic recombination at tryptophan, threoine and adenine loci of the diploid strains Saccharomyces cerevisiae a/b and S. 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 .apprx. 10-fold above the control. Results with AF-2 fell within the control range. [This study may be applicable to carcinogenesis.].