Mutagenicity studies on dihydroergocristine.

Dihydroergocristine (DHEC) is an ergot derivative used for the therapy of patients with cerebrovascular insufficiency. It was tested for mutagenicity by means of four tests. In the mutagenicity in vitro assay on Salmonella typhimurium, DHEC was checked at 10,000 micrograms/plate on TA98 and TA1538 strains and at 3000 micrograms/plate on TA1535, TA1537 and TA100 strains with and without metabolic activation. In a quantitative in vitro test for mutagenicity in V79 Chinese hamster cells, DHEC was studied at concentrations between 30 and 0.3 microgram/ml with and without metabolic activation. DHEC was tested for its ability to induce chromosomal damage in human lymphocyte cultures utilizing the concentrations of 10, 3 and 1 microgram/ml. In the in vivo mouse (Swiss strain) micronucleus assay, DHEC was orally administered at two dosages (50% and 16% of LD50) following the schedule of the test. Dihydroergocristine is a drug free of mutagenic activity on the basis of all the results obtained from the above in vitro and in vivo tests.