Urinary promutagens of smokers: comparison of concentration methods and relation to cigarette consumption.

Different extraction techniques can be used to concentrate the promutagens of cigarette smokers' urine before evaluation of their mutagenic potency by Ames test. In this study, three solid adsorbents, C18, XAD2 and CN were compared for their ability to concentrate the promutagens of smokers' urine prior to acetone elution. C18 extracts were observed to have a higher promutagenicity than XAD2 and CN extracts. The mutagenicity of smokers' urine depended on the smoking habits, and a strong correlation was observed between urinary promutagenicity, daily cigarette consumption, and the tobacco type (black or blond). Smokers of black tobacco had a higher urinary genotoxicity than smokers of blond tobacco, after taking into account the level of tobacco consumption. Urinary promutagenicity did not appear to depend on the tar level of cigarettes.