Genotoxicity studies of benz[l]aceanthrylene.

The genotoxicity of the cyclopenta-fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, benz[l]aceanthrylene (B[l]A), was evaluated in vitro using the L5178Y/TK+/- mouse lymphoma assay and in vivo using the mouse peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) culture system. The mutagenicity and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) inducing potential of B[l]A was then compared to that of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P). B[l]A appeared to be slightly less mutagenic than B[a]P at the TK locus, and each compound produced both small and large colony mutants indicating that they are clastogenic as well as mutagenic. Gross chromosome aberration analysis of treated L5178Y/TK+/- mouse lymphoma cells confirmed the clastogenicity of B[l]A in vitro. In the mouse PBL system, after administration by gavage, B[l]A was more cytotoxic and produced a sharper elevation in SCE frequency than B[a]P.