Inhibitory and mutagenic effects of sodium nitroprusside and its adenine complex on Escherichia coli.

Sodium nitroprusside and its adenine complex were found to decrease the growth rate of exponentially growing Escherichia coli cultures, and the adenine complex to exert in addition a bactericidal effect. In mutation experiments the latter compound failed to induce base-pair substitutions in the E. coli strains tested but the results do not allow to exclude other mutagenic mechanisms.