変異原性試験で何がわかるか : 21世紀の展望

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The year 2001 was the 30^th anniversary of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society. This is a good opportunity to look back over the development of genotoxicity assays during that period and envision the future perspective. At the beginning of the Society, the most important issue appeared to be the establishment of efficient screening systems to identify potential mutagens in the environment where millions of chemicals were present. Microbial gene mutation assays, such as the Ames test, and chromosome aberration tests using cultured mammalian cells were developed in the era. The mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of AF2, a food additive, and the heterocyclic amines in burnt food were discovered and these findings caused heated debate in the Society. In the 1980s and 90s, the genotoxicity assays seemed to have evolved mainly in two directions. The first one is the development of assays whose sensitivities were enhanced by genetic engineering. Examples include sensitive bacterial strains, such as Salmonella typhimurium YG1024 and YG1021, which are highly sensitive to mutagenic aromatic amines and nitroarenes, and Salmonella typhimurium YG7108 which is sensitive to the mutagenicity of alkylating agents. The second direction was the development of assays using experimental animals. Examples include transgenic assays, in vivo micronucleus assay and comet assay. The rodent assays are less sensitive than the microbial assays but may be more appropriate to evaluate the potential risks of chemicals to humans. At present, we still face a number of unsolved problems, such as how to evaluate the risk of exposure to multiple chemicals. Establishment of the molecular bases for the risk assessment of chemicals is a major challenge in the 21^st century. Current topics for the development of genotoxicity assays are presented and future directions are discussed.
日本環境変異原学会の論文
2002-09-30

変異原性試験で何がわかるか : 21世紀の展望

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