Plant antimutagenic agents, 1. General bioassay and isolation procedures.

An antimutagenic assay in Salmonella typhimurium has been utilized for a study of the inhibition of the mutagenic activity of 2-aminoanthracene in the presence of the Ames S-9 metabolic activation preparation by crude organic solvent extracts of plant materials. More than 2000 extracts representing 39 families have been tested to date. Confirmed inhibitory activity has been found in 80 samples. More than 60% were nontoxic. Methods for isolation and characterization of pure compounds are presented. Of particular interest is the utilization of large scale preparative hplc for rapid purification of inhibitory chromatographic fractions that were still highly impure.