Evaluation of potential genotoxicity of stannous chloride: inactivation, filamentation and lysogenic induction of Escherichia coli.

Because of the importance of stannous chloride in various fields of human endeavour, the potential genotoxicity of this reducing agent was evaluated by measurement of either the inactivation or the induction of SOS responses in bacteria. Escherichia coli strains used in this work (wild type, uvrA, recA, lexA and uvrA recA) were treated with stannous chloride; the wild type was found to be the most resistant and the double mutant, the most sensitive strain. As these strains present mutations on specific genes for the repair of DNA, stannous chloride would appear to be capable of inducing and/or producing lesions in DNA and, thus, can be considered to be a potential genotoxic agent. This capability was confirmed by the lysogenic induction of E. coli K12 (lambda) (Inductest) and by microscopic observation of E. coli B filamentation.