Abstract
The Salmonella/microsome assay (Ames test) is a useful method for screening mutagens in complex environmental samples such as river water and sediment. However, no quantitative and generalized method to evaluate the mutagenicity of sediment has yet been established. In this study, the simple and effective method for monitoring the mutagenicity in sediment was investigated, and applied to river sediments and drainage sediments collected in Kanagawa prefecture.The following method was proved to be simple, sensitive and giving good results for the Ames test for various sediment samples : sediment samples were extracted twice using ultrasonic agitation with dichloromethane/ethanol (4 : 1) and then dichloromethane, and crude extracts were dissolved to n-hexane/ethylacetate (95 : 5) and separated to the insoluble fraction, the passing fraction which should be refined by Cu column from a silica-cartridge, and the eluted fraction from the silica-cartridge with ethylacetate/methanol (1 : 1).Eleven samples in the tested 13 samples showed the mutagenicities to TA98 or TA100 on addition of S9mix, and the ranges were 10-792 net revertants to TA98 and 13-1,990 net revertants to TA100 per g dry sediment. Fractionation procedure was effective not only for reducing interference caused by coexisting substances and lowering the detection limits of mutagenicity but also for getting information on characteristics of the mutagens contained in the sediment. The developed preparation method was confirmed to be adaptable to various sediment samples.
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