TRANSFORMATION OF BALB C 3T3 CELLS IN-VITRO BY THE FUNGICIDES CAPTAN,CAPTAFOL AND FOLPET/

Cytotoxic and cell-transforming activities of the three fungicides, ca ptan, captafol and folpet, have been studied in an experimental in vit ro model by exposing BALB/c 3T3 cells to the chemicals with or without S-9 mix-induced bioactivation. Cytotoxicity of the three compounds wa s reduced in the presence of the metabolizing system. Each assayed pes ticide displayed cell-transforming ability in the presence of the meta bolizing system, The relative efficiency was: captafol > captan > folp et, Cell transformation was considered to be due to carcinogenesis-pro moting activity. These data, obtained in a medium-term (6-8 weeks) exp erimental model, contribute to a better understanding of the action of the three pesticides in the multistep carcinogenesis process and prov ide more information concerning the oncogenic risk of these xenobiotic compounds for humans.