Synergistic, additive, and antagonistic mutagenic responses to binary mixtures of benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(e)pyrene as detected by strains TA98 and TA100 in the salmonella/microsome assay

Abstract
Binary mixtures of benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) and benzo(e)pyrene (B(e)P) produce synergistic mutagenic (comutagenic) responses in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98 (a frameshift detector). The optimum enhancement (25 ×) was found at B(a)P concentration of 0.3 μg/plate and B(e)P concentration of 1.5 μg/plate. The response of strain TA100 (mostly a base-substitution detector) is opposite that of TA98, showing antagonism and additivity in similar concentration ranges.