2002 Volume 48 Issue 3 Pages 232-241
The mutagenic characteristics of concentrates from environmental water such as the effluent from various treatment plants and river waters using a modified Blue Chitin column method were determined by Ames assay with Salmonella typhimurium TA98, YG1021 and YG1024. This was done to estimate the quantitative contribution rate of mutagenicity estimated from analyzed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content in the same concentrates to the mutagenicity of environmental water. Moreover, PAHs content and the mutagenicity of the river sediment-extract were measured to elucidate the fate of PAHs in the river. Many kinds of environmental waters and river sediment possessed principally indirect frame-shift type mutagenicity. Concentrates from many kinds of environmental waters possibly contained aminoarenes assayed with YG1021 and YG1024. In many kinds of environmental waters, the contribution rates of mutagenic magnitude estimated from seventeen analyzed PAH contents to the mutagenic magnitude of these water concentrates in TA98 with S9 mix were recognized to be from 0.10 to 1.15%. However, the contribution rate of mutagenic magnitude estimated from ten analyzed PAHs contents to the mutagenic magnitude of the Arata River sediment extract in TA98 with S9 mix was 64.2%. The high concentration of PAHs in the river sediment suggested that hydrophobic PAHs in the water might easily accumulate in the river sediment after adsorbing to the suspended solid.
