Rl. Chang et al., MUTAGENICITY OF TRANS,TRANS-MUCONALDEHYDE AND ITS METABOLITES IN V79 CELLS, Environmental and molecular mutagenesis, 24(2), 1994, pp. 112-115
trans,trans-Muconaldehyde (MUC), a six-carbon-diene-dialdehyde, is a m
icrosomal, hematotoxic ring-opened metabolite of benzene. MUC is metab
olized to a variety of compounds which are formed by oxidation and/or
reduction of the aldehyde group(s). In the present studies, MUC and it
s metabolites were examined for mutagenic activity at the hypoxanthine
guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) locus in Chinese hamster V7
9 cells. Mutagenicity was scored by counting 8-azaguanine-resistant co
lonies. Of the 6 compounds tested, MUC and its aldehydic metabolites 6
-hydroxy-trans,trans-2,4-hexadienal and 6-oxo-trans,trans-hexadienoic
acid were mutagenic in that order of potency. The other MUC metabolite
s tested (1,6-dihydroxy-trans, trans-2, 4-hexadiene, trans, trans-muco
nic acid, and 6-hydroxy-trans, trans-2,4-hexadienoic acid) had little
or no activity in this system. The order of mutagenic activity of MUC
and its aldehydic metabolites correlates with their reactivity towards
glutathione, suggesting that alkylating potential is important in the
genotoxicity of these compounds. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.