Increased antimutagenic activity of simple substituted phenols mixed with the hindered phenolic antioxidant dibunol.

The micronucleus test using mouse bone-marrow polychromatic erythrocytes was used to study the extent to which benzo[a]pyrene (BP) mutagenicity was inhibited by mixtures of simple phenols (resorcinol and pyrogallol) with and without the complex hindered-phenol antioxidant dibunol (2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol). Mixtures of these phenolic compounds inhibited BP mutagenicity more effectively than did the individual constituents. One can assume that the simple phenols regenerated in the presence of dibunol from the tissue-oxidized forms increase the formation of detoxified or less mutagenic metabolites of BP.