The Use of Short-Term Tests in the Isolation and Identification of Chemical Mutagens in Complex Mixtures

Induction of sister chromatid exchanges and bacterial revertants by organic extracts of airborne particles

“…It is therefore surprising that the toxicological properties of airborne particles have been investigated in only a limited number of test systems, even though a great variety of bioassays are now available [Harnden, 1978;Hollstein et al, 1979;Dehnen, 1980;Epler, 1980;Waters et al, 19801.…”

Characterization of microbial mutagens in complex samples—methodology and application

“…Solvents and extraction methods used for various environmental samples have recently.been reviewed by Chrisp and Fisher 28 and by Epler. 13 When describing various methods for the characterization of mutagens, we will in the following chapters assume that the starting point is an organic extract of the sample, except for those approaches that use the extraction of the original sample as the method for fractionation, which will be discussed separately. After extraction, the extracts are usually concentrated by evaporation to dryness or near dryness to remove the solvent, and the organics are redissolved in DMSO or another suitable solvent.…”

“…A less extensive review of this topic but which includes other short-term bioassays has been published by Epler. 13 The Salmonella test, as it was first developed, 9 involved placing the mutagen in the center of a petri dish containing a modified minimal medium that was seeded with bacteria unable to grow because of a deficiency in their histidine biosynthetic pathway. Colonies of bacteria around the area where the test substance has been deposited indicate mutation, i.e., reversion to histidine independence.…”

“…This area is among the best studied by the bioassay-directed analysis approach as described by Epler. 13 Separation of the mixture in acids, bases, and neutrals as a first fractionation has been used extensively for characterization of synfuels. 13.…”

Short-Term Bioassays in the Analysis of Complex Environmental Mixtures IV

“…Many of the industrial effluent studies have concentrated on specific manufacturing process types. Separate investigations have demonstrated that wastewaters from pulp mills (Douglas etal., 1980) and coal gasification processes (Epler, 1980) were mutagenic, while numerous textile mill effluents were reported to be non mutagenic (Rawlings and Samfield, 1979). Two published projects have examined the mutagenicity of effluents discharged from a limited number of industrial process types.…”