Antimutagenic effect of isocyanates and related compounds in Escherichia coli.

Isocyanates and isothiocyanates have been suggested to inactivate enzymes involved in the metabolic activation of chemical carcinogens and the repair of DNA damage. These compounds decrease the mutability of a tester strain of Escherichia coli B under UV irradiation. This paper deals with the antimutagenicity of acylating agents, including isocyanates and isothiocyanates, and some anti-oxidants which are suspected to be anticarcinogenic. The results can be summarized as follows. (1) The antimutagenic effect observed in the present study operates on UV-induced mutagenesis but not on X-ray-induced mutagenesis. (2) This effect operates only on the wild-type strain, H/r30R, but not on Hs30R deficient in the excision repair system. (3) This effect may function through giving the irradiated cells a greater chance to carry out excision repair by prolonging the lag-period before entry into the S-phase. (4) The carbamoylating ability of isocyanates and isothiocyanates may be responsible for the antimutagenicity, but other type of reactivities may also be involved. These antimutagens also participate in inactivating enzymes relevant to the metabolic activation of mutagens, resulting in a decrease in the frequency of chemically induced mutagenesis.