MUTAGENICITY OF ETHYLENE-GLYCOL ETHERS AND OF THEIR METABOLITES IN SALMONELLA-TYPHIMURIUM-HIS(-)

Ethylene glycol ethers, their aldehyde and their acid metabolites were evaluated for their mutagenicity with the Ames test. The Salmonella t yphimurium his(-) tester strains TA 97a, TA 98, TA 100 and TA 102 were used with and without rat S9 mix. Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, e thylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol n-butyl ether and thei r corresponding aldehyde and acid derivatives were tested up to 10(-4) mol/plate (around 10 mg/plate) or up to cytotoxic concentrations. All tested substances gave negative results with TA 98, TA 100 and TA 102 either with or without S9 mix. In contrast, ethylene glycol n-butyl e ther (EGBE) and the aldehyde metabolite of ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, methoxyacetaldehyde (MALD), displayed mutagenic potency in stra in TA 97a with and without 89 mix at high concentrations. A significan t number of revertants was obtained from 19 mu mol/plate EGBE (2.2 mg/ plate) and from 34 mu mol/plate MALD (2.5 mg/plate). At these concentr ations the level of revertants reached up to 7-fold and 3-fold the con trol values for EGBE and MALD respectively.