THE VICINAL CHLOROALCOHOLS 1,3-DICHLORO-2-PROPANOL (DC2P), 3-CHLORO-1,2-PROPANEDIOL (3CPD) AND 2-CHLORO-1,3-PROPANEDIOL (2CPD) ARE NOT GENOTOXIC IN-VIVO IN THE WING SPOT-TEST OF DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER

In this study, the vicinal chloroalcohols 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol (DC2 P), 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol (3CPD) and 2-chloro-1,3-propanediol (2CPD ) were investigated for genotoxicity in the wing spot test of Drosophi la. DC2P is an important starting material in many processes of synthe sis in chemical industry. 3CPD as well as some related glycerol chloro hydrins were identified in protein hydrolysates industrially used for the production of food items such as seasonings, sauces and soups. The wing spot test is a somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) a nd is a sensitive in vivo assay for the detection of mutagens and prom utagens. The test was applied here in its standard version with normal bioactivation and in a variant with increased cytochrome P450-depende nt bioactivation capacity. All three compounds were clearly non-genoto xic in these in vivo assays. The results are in agreement with recent findings which strongly suggest that positive genotoxicity results in in vitro testing of vicinal chloroalcohols such as DC2P are due to dir ectly acting genotoxic intermediates arising from a chemical reaction with the culture medium rather than from enzymatic biotransformation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.