AN EVALUATION OF GENOTOXICITY TESTS WITH MUSK KETONE

Musk ketone, a synthetic musk fragrance ingredient that has been found in river water, fish and breast milk, was evaluated for potential gen otoxicity in a battery of short-term tests. The mouse lymphoma assay w as conducted at musk ketone concentrations ranging from 700 to 4000 mu g/ml and 2.0 to 35 mu g/ml in the absence and presence of rat liver S -9, respectively. No increased mutant frequencies were noted. An in vi tro cytogenetics assay in Chinese hamster ovary cells was conducted at musk ketone concentrations ranging from 4.3 to 34 mu g/ml and 1.25 to 10 mu g/ml in the absence and presence of rat liver S-9, respectively . On the basis of the non-reproducibility or a statistically significa nt increase at a single concentration and no increases in other test s ystems, musk ketone was concluded to be negative for chromosome aberra tions. An in vitro unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) assay was conducted in primary rat hepatocytes at musk ketone concentrations between 0.5 and 50 mu g/ml. No increases in net nuclear grain counts were noted. M usk ketone did not show genotoxic potential based on the negative resu lts in the mouse lymphoma, in vitro cytogenetics and in vitro UDS assa ys. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.