GENOTOXICITY ASSESSMENT OF THE ANTIFUNGAL ANTIBIOTIC AUREOFUNGIN IN SALMONELLA-TYPHIMURIUM AND SWISS ALBINO MICE

The widely used agricultural antifungal agent aureofungin (ARF) was su bjected to genotoxicity assessment using the Ames Salmonella assay as well as the in vivo micronucleus test and dominant lethal test in Swis s mice. In the Ames Salmonella spot test, ARF slightly elevated the nu mber of histidine revertants after metabolic activation over a wide do se range (1-1000 mug/plate) in TA102 but not in TA97a, TA98 or TA100. In the preincubation plate incorporation assay with TA102, ARF increas ed the number of revertants in a dose-dependent manner only after meta bolic activation. ARF failed to significantly elevate the frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (PE) in the bone marrow of Swiss mice. It elevated the frequency of dominant lethal mutations in the 7th and 8th weeks at 30 mg/kg body weight, a concentration much hi gher than the actual concentration used in the field. We conclude that ARF is non-mutagenic in somatic cells in vivo at doses used in the pr esent study, probably mutagenic in stem-cell spermatogonia and may be classified as an equivocal promutagen, possibly acting as a cross-link er.