Abstract
To investigate the possible interaction of diesel exhaust and other environmental carcinogens, the effect of diesel-exhaust-particle extracts on the chemically-induced mutant frequency at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase gene locus in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells was studied. A direct-acting mutagen, N-methyl- N′-nitro- N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), and a mutagen that required metabolic activation, benzo[ a]pyrene [B( a)P], were used. 5 organic extracts, each prepared from the exhaust particles of a different diesel passenger car, were studied alone and in combination with the known mutagens. Combined treatments of the cells with an exhaust-particle extract and a mutagen yielded an observed mutant frequency higher than the expected value (the sum of their individual effects). In the absence of exogenous activation, the observed mutant frequency induced by the combined treatment of CHO cells with diesel exhaust extract and MNNG was 1.4–1.9 times the expected value. In the presence of exogenous activation, using B( a)P as mutagen, the observed mutant frequency was 2.8–3.2 times the expected value. This finding suggests the presence of comutagens/cocarcinogens in the diesel-exhaust particle extract.
Published Version
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