Abstract
Mutagenic actions of aflatoxin B$_1$ (AFB$_1$) in the presence of various concentrations of L-ascorbIc acid (AA) in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 100 and TA98 were studied. Spontaneous revertants per plate of the tester strains TA100 and TA98 were 121-125 and 25-30 with or without S9 mix, respectively. The negative controls used in the study did not show any mutagenesis in the tester strains. AFB$_1$ revealed strong mutagenicity at the dose levels of 0.05, 0.1 and 0.25 ${\mu}$g/plate with metabolic activation system in both strains. However, it showed a toxic effect when the levels were more than 0.5 ${\mu}$g/plate. When lower concentrations of AA (5-20 ${\mu}$g/plate) were added to AFB$_1$ in the Ames assay system with S9 mix the mutagenic action of AFB$_1$ decreased in both strains. About 70-90% of mutagenicity of AFB$_1$ disappeared in strain TA100 when 20${\mu}$g of AA was added to 0.05 ${\mu}$g of AFB$_1$. The inhibitory effect was greatly increased by the addition of higher concentrations of AA to AFB$_1$ in TA100 strain. The mutagenicity of AFB$_1$ was completely inhibited when 100 ${\mu}$g and 500 ${\mu}$g of AA were added to 0.05 ${\mu}$g and 0.1 ${\mu}$g of AFB$_1$, respectively, However, this protective effect of AA on AFB$_1$ mediated mutagenesis was less effective in TA98 strain than that in TA100.
