Mutagenic potential of nitroguanidine and nitrosoguanidine in the Drosophila melanogaster sex-linked recessive lethal assay.

Nitroguanidine (NG) and its degradation product nitrosoguanidine (NSG) were evaluated for their mutagenic potential by using Drosophila melanogaster sex-linked recessive lethal (SLRL) assay. Following 72 h of feeding exposure, NG and NSG at concentrations of 4-8 micrograms ml-1 and 15-20 mg ml-1, respectively, were not mutagenic in the test system. The frequencies of mutations for NG and the negative control were 0.188% and 0.096%, respectively. The frequencies of mutations for NSG and the negative control experiments were 0.049% and 0.05%, respectively. The positive control mutation frequencies were 15% and 17.8% for the two assays. The differences between the mutation frequencies of NG and NSG and their negative controls were not significant.