THE SOS FUNCTION-INDUCING ACTIVITY OF THE NEW NITROTHIOPHENIC DERIVATIVES IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI

Genotoxicity and cytotoxic effects of eight new nitrothiophenic compou nds with trypanocidal activity were determined by means of the SOS Chr omotest assay. Our results indicate that all nitro compounds with one aromatic ring in the R group were genotoxic without and with metabolic activation. The compounds with two aromatic rings in the R group, exc ept for indazol-1-yl, were strongly cytotoxic but they were unable to induce SOS functions without metabolic activation. However, after meta bolic activation no cytotoxic effect was observed for these compounds. The role of the nitroreductases to explain the different genotoxic re sponses of these nitrothiophenic derivatives is discussed.