Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 1996-11-04

Evaluation of blue-chitin column, blue-rayon hanging, and XAD-resin column techniques for concentrating mutagens from two Japanese rivers.

H Sakamoto, T Ohe, T Hayatsu, H Hayatsu

Index: Mutat. Res. 371(1-2) , 79-85, (1996)

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Abstract

Highly mutagenic water of the Katsura River, Kyoto, and moderately mutagenic water of the Asahi River, Okayama, were used to evaluate the efficacy of three concentration techniques, the blue-chitin column, the blue-rayon hanging, and the XAD-2 column. These two river waters have been shown to exhibit high mutagenicity in the assay with Salmonella typhimurium TA98 with metabolic activation. With this assay as a measure, two water samples from the Katsura, collected on different dates, and a sample from the Asahi were submitted to the column concentration techniques, blue-chitin and XAD-2. Blue-chitin was more efficient than XAD-2 for all of these samples: e.g., for one Katsura sample, the mutagenicity found was 913 +/- 53 (mean +/- SD, n = 3) revertants/500 ml with blue-chitin, and 419 +/- 129 (n = 3)/500 ml with XAD-2. Blue rayon (0.5 g) hung in the Asahi for 24 h gave 563 +/- 74 (n = 3) revertants, while the water spot-sampled at the start of the hanging showed 253 +/- 10 (n = 3) revertants per 5 liter with the blue-chitin column technique. We conclude that for quantitative measurement of the "Salmonella TA98 +/- S9' mutagens in these rivers, the blue-chitin column is more efficient and accurate than the XAD-2 column and that for judging the presence of mutagens, the blue-rayon hanging is the most sensitive and convenient among the three methods examined.