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U.S. Department of Energy
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Predictive testing of environmental carcinogens

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5928839
Two research approaches are presented which address different aspects of predictive testing for environmental carcinogens. In Part I, a well-known microbial assay is used to determine the presence of carcinogens in an environmental sample of suspected hazard. In Part II, a single chemical carcinogen is chosen to demonstrate the utility of three-phase microcosms for prediction of transport and transformations pathways in a reservoir ecosystem. The Ames/Salmonella mutagenicity assay was used to screen processed oil shale extracts for potentially carcinogenic chemicals. Positive mutagenic activity was detected in organic solvent extracts of all four spent shales tested. Problems which might limit application of the Ames assay were explored. The results of assays of one-to-one mixtures of two mutagens which exhibited different dose response curves when assayed separately indicated the response to the mixture was nonadditive. Furthermore, the response to the mixture was determined to be statistically indistinguishable (chi-square analysis) from the dose response curve of one of the mutagens in the majority of cases. This masking effect was found to persist for one strong mutagen (benzo(a)pyrene) even when it composed only 10% of the mixture. The effect of various non-toxic solvents on the mutagenic response of certain mutagens was also determined. Three-phase microcosms were used to study the aquatic fate and effect of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), benz(a)antracene.
OSTI ID:
5928839
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English