N-Substituted aryl compounds in carcinogenesis and mutagenesis.

A brief history of the development of synthetic dyes derived from aromatic amines is given and the later consequences on workers' health. Metabolic studies and carcinogenicity tests of aromatic amines showed that the differences in susceptibility of various species to the amines cannot always be explained on the basis of metabolic handling of amines. Tests for mutagenicity of aromatic amines in histidine-dependent strains of the bacterium. Salmonella typhimurium, are often useful as indicators of possible carcinogens. However, the mutagenicity tests gave a false positive result when compared with those from carcinogenicity studies of the same compounds.