Cancer Letters, 52 (1990) 33-37 Elsevier Scientific Publishers Ireland Ltd. 33 Sister chromatid exchange induced by secondary and tertiary amine containing dyes and in combination with nitrite in vivo in mice A.K. Giri* and A. Mukherjee Centre for Advanced Studies in Cell and Chromosome Research, ~epartmenf zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ o _fBo fany , ~n~ve~i~y of Cascara, Calcutta 700019 fIndia) (Received 20 December 1989) (Revision received 12 March 1990) (Accepted 13 March 1990) zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Summary Sister c~roma~id exchange (SCE) induced by fndigo carmine ~secondary amine containing dye), Fast green FCF (tertiary amine containing dye) and nitrite singly and in combination with nitrite were carried out in viuo in zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA mice following acute exposure. A sig- n~~cant trend in the frequency of SCE in &one marrow cells was observed for all the dyes and nitrite tested zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA when compared to the negative control. Fast green FCF was found to be more toxic than Indigo carmine. In addition, when a combination of half the concentrations of the dyes and nitrite was given, the values of SCEs were consistently lower than the sum of the expected values of the agents given individu- ally. This indicates antagonistic response between the dyes and nitrite on SCEs. Keywords: sister chromatid exchange; Indigo carmine; Fast green; sodium nitrite; antago- nism; bone marrow cells. ‘Present address: Central Drug Research Institute, Division of Toxicoiogy, P.0. Box No. 173, Lucknow 226 001, India. Introduction Indigo carmine (containing secondary amine group) and Fast green FCF (containing tertiary amine group) - two ubiquitously used food dyes, currently permitted in several coun- tries has been subjected to a paucity of screening. These dyes have been claimed to be clastogenic [l&23] as well as non-mu~geni~ and non-genotoxic (see review, Ref. 5) Sodium nitrite used primarily in preserving meat is one of the common sources of dietary nitrate. Besides, nitrates are found in food in considerably higher quantities than nitrites; green leafy vegetables can be reduced to nitrite in the human oral cavitiy [13]. Sander and Burkle [24] first demonstrated that ingested secondary amines and nitrites could react in vivo to produce carcinogenic nitrosoamines. These ~-ni~oso-compounds result from endogenous formation in the stomach [19] where the acidic conditions favour the reac- tions of nitrite with various amines and amides normally present in the diet and in gestric and salivary secretion [18,20,22]. We have been teesting the in vivo genotoxici~ of secondary and tertiary amine containing food dyes indj- 0304-3835/90/$03.50 0 1990 Elsevier Scientific Publishers Ireland Ltd. Published and Printed in Ireland