Effect of several factors on the liver extract mediated mutagenicity of acrylonitrile and identification of four new in vitro metabolites.

The mutagenicity of acrylonitrile (ACN) was tested with Salmonella typhimurium TA1530 after a preincubation period of the chemical with a rat liver post-mitochondrial fraction in liquid medium. Several pretreatments were applied to the animals before the preparation of the liver fractions and different compounds added to the incubation mixture, which were shown to modify the liver mediated mutagenic activity of ACN. Four metabolites: cyanoacetic acid, cyanoethanol, acetic acid and glycolaldehyde were identified after incubation of ACN with the rat liver homogenate. From both sets of results, an in vitro metabolic scheme is proposed to ACN, which postulates the intermediate formation of a radical species and an epoxide.