USE OF THE MINISCREEN ASSAY TO SCREEN NOVEL COMPOUNDS FOR BACTERIAL MUTAGENICITY IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL-INDUSTRY

In vitro assays for mutagenicity are an important feature of pre-clini cal testing and form part of the current regulatory testing conducted early in drug development. They can also play a part in compound selec tion since mutagenic compounds can be eliminated from a range of poten tial candidates, Bacterial tests are particularly useful in this area because they generate results quickly, through their use may be limite d because they can require up to 4 g of material, A scaled-down versio n of the Ames test has been developed which requires only similar to 2 0 mg of material. Initial experiences with this assay using a range of known mutagens and novel compounds have shown that the Miniscreen has similar sensitivity to the Ames test. The major exception is for thos e mutagens preferentially detected with strains TA1537 and TA1535, whi ch, because of their low spontaneous counts, are not employed in the M iniscreen.