Laidlaw S A, Dietrich M F, Lamtenzan M P, Vargas H I, Block J B, Kopple J D
Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance 90509.
Cancer Res. 1989 Dec 1;49(23):6600-4.
Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) was evaluated as an antimutagen in the Ames Salmonella tester strain assay. Taurine inhibited mutagenesis by doxorubicin (-74%), bleomycin (-55%), mitomycin C (-56%), and 2-aminofluorene (-52%), but not danthrone or benzo(a)pyrene, in strain TA102. In strain TA98, doxorubicin mutagenicity, but not that of 2-aminofluorene or benzo(a)pyrene, was inhibited by taurine. N-Methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (-73%), but not dexon, mutagenicity was inhibited by taurine in strain TA100. Taurine inhibited those mutagens against which it was effective in a dose-related fashion. Taurine was more effective in inhibiting doxorubicin mutagenicity in strain TA102 than its analogues hypotaurine, beta-alanine, and guanidinoethanesulfonic acid or alanine or glycine. The observed inhibition may indicate a role for taurine in modulating the activity of oxidant species.
