Evaluation of the mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of motor vehicle emissions in short-term bioassays.

Incomplete combustion of fuel in motor vehicles results in the emission of submicron carbonaceous particles which, after cooling and dilution, contain varying quantities of extractable organic constituents. These organics are mutagenic in bacteria. Confirmatory bioassays in mammalian cells provide the capability of detecting chromosomal and DNA damage in addition to gene mutations. In order to evaluate the mutagenicity of these organics in mammalian cells, extractable organics from particle emissions from several diesel and gasoline vehicles were compared in a battery of microbial, mammalian cell and in vivo bioassays. The mammalian cell mutagenicity bioassays were selected to detect gene mutations, DNA damage, and chromosomal effects. Carcinogenesis bioassays conducted included short-term assays for oncogenic transformation and skin tumorigenesis. The results in different assay systems are compared both qualitatively and quantitatively. Good quantitative correlations were observed between several mutagenesis and carcinogenesis bioassays for this series of diesel and gasoline emissions.