Comparison between aqueous-phase and gas-phase exposure protocols for determining the mutagenic potential of nitrogen dioxide and the gas fraction of welding fumes.

Nitrogen dioxide and the gas fraction of welding fumes, a complex gas mixture which contains high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, were tested for mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium tester strains, TA1535 and TA1538. A comparison between 2 exposure protocols, aqueous phase and gas phase, was made to evaluate the sensitivity of each in measuring the mutagenic potential of the gases. In the aqueous-phase exposure, a suspension of cells in an isotonic salt solution was exposed by bubbling the gas through the culture. In the gas-phase exposure, the plated cells were exposed to the gas in a chamber. For both gases tested, the gas-phase exposure resulted in a higher reversion frequency than the aqueous-phase exposure. Furthermore, we found that nitrogen dioxide accounted for only a fraction of the mutagenicity observed for the gas fraction of welding fumes.