Mutagenic potency of heterocyclic amines in the Drosophila wing spot test and its correlation to carcinogenic potency.

The Drosophila wing spot test is fast and sensitive for detecting somatic mutation and recombination. Nine heterocyclic amines, which had been identified as mutagenic constituents of cooked food by using the Salmonella/mammalian-microsome test system, were orally fed to larvae of the tester strain. All the compounds (Trp-P-1, Trp-P-2, Glu-P-1, Glu-P-2, IQ, MeIQ, MeIQx, AaC, MeAaC) showed mutagenicity in this system. The reported values of carcinogenic potency in the mouse assay for seven of the nine compounds showed an excellent correlation with mutagenic potency values obtained in the Drosophila assay, but not with those obtained in the Salmonella assay, indicating that the Drosophila short-term test is promising for quantitative pre-screening of potential carcinogens.