Comparison of the cytotoxic and mutagenic potential of liquid smoke food flavourings, cigarette smoke condensate and wood smoke condensate

Although products of pyrolysis are often cytotoxic and mutagenic, the relat ionship between the type of material pyrolysed and the toxicity of the resu lting pyrolysis products is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of several ty pes of common pyrolysis products. The cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of thes e products were assessed by using neutral red uptake and Ames mutagenicity assays, respectively. The biological activities of four liquid smoke food f lavourings (LSF) were compared with two other pyrolysis-derived materials; cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) and a wood smoke condensate (WSC). Results indicated all of the mixtures exhibited a concentration-dependent cytotoxi c response. The CSC and WSC were less cyto toxic than three of the LSFs, bu t more cytotoxic than one of the brands. The CSC was mutagenic in two Salmo nella strains. however, none of the LSFs or WSC was mutagenic using TA98, a nd only three of the LSFs were positive with TA100. The six pyrolysis-deriv ed materials evaluated in this study showed differing patterns and magnitud es of cytotoxicity and mutagenicity. These results indicate that the cytoto xicity and mutagenicity of complex mixtures derived from pyrolysis products are affected by the type of material pyrolysed and/or the method used to p repare the mixture. The cytotoxic potential of some commercial smoke flavou rings is greater than cigarette smoke condensate and several of the food fl avourings are mutagenic in one Salmonella strain. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.