Diethylstilbestrol and 11 derivatives: a mutagenicity study with Salmonella typhimurium.

Diethylstilbestrol was tested for mutagenicity with his- S. typhimurium strains under 10 different matabolic situations (no exogenous metabolizing system; S9 mix from liver homogenate of rats induced with Aroclor 1254, with or without inhibition of epoxide hydratase; liver and/or kidney S9 mix from control or hamsters treated with Aroclor 1254; horse-radish peroxidase + H2O2). Under none of these conditions did diethylstilbestrol give any indication of a mutagenic effect. Furthermore, 11 metabolites and other derivatives of diethylstilbestrol, 2 of them potent inducers of sister-chromatid exchange in cultured fibroblasts, were not mutagenic with any of the 4 tester strains (S. typhimurium TA100, TA98, TA1537, TA1535) in the presence or absence of S9 mix from liver homogenate of rats induced with Aroclor 1254. Thus, one of the few known human carcinogens is very resistant to detection by the mammalian enzyme-mediated Salmonella typhimurium mutagenicity test (Ames test). This is especially remarkable since the metabolizing systems used included: (1) some of very high metabolic activity (S9 mix from liver homogenate of rats and hamsters induced with Aroclor 1254); (2) metabolizing systems from organs susceptible to the carcinogenic activity of diethylstilbestrol (hamster kidney); as well as (3) a mixture of (1) and (2) in case both activities are required for the carcinogenic effect in the whole animal.