No abstract

Recebido em 29/4/08; aceito em 8/12/08; publicaod na web em 28/5/09Nitrite, which is present in preserved meat and can be produced in the oral cavity by reduction of nitrate taken from vegetables, could react in stomach with nitrosatable drugs, giving genotoxic-carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds (NOC). The mutagenicity of reaction mixtures formed by sodium nitrite and selected sulfa-drugs (sulfathiazole, HST; phtalylsulfathiazole, PhST; complex Co(II)-sulfathiazole, Co(II)-ST) in acidic medium was evaluated using the Salmonella typhimurium reverse mutation assay (Ames test), with TA98 and TA100 strains. The reactions were carried out at room temperature, with a mole ratio [nitrite]/[sulfa-drug] ≥ 1. The three reaction mixtures showed mutagenic effects in the considered range.