Bestimmung der phototoxischen und photomutagenen Potenz furocumarinhaltiger Drogenzubereitungen und Handelspräparate mit dem Testsystem Chlamydomonas

Abstract

Cells of an arg^- mutant strain of Chlamydomonas reinhardii were irradiated with UV-A in the presence of 0.01 to 0.25% of several selected commercial products and plant extracts containing furocoumarin derivatives. The phototoxicity and photomutagenicity of 9 different products were compared on the basis of the colony forming ability of arg^- cells and the induction of Arg⁺ revertants after treatment for 30 and 60 min, respectively. We determined the photomutagenic potency quantitatively using meladinine®, a solution containing 8-MOP¹ as an internal standard. The photomutagenic potency was then expressed in µg 8-MOP which was equivalent to the activity of the product tested. From this we calculated the quantity of the products in ml, which corresponds to the mutagenic potency of a single dose (= 30 mg) of 8-MOP in photochemotherapy.

The photomutagenic activity of the products was correlated with the presence of certain bifunctional furocoumarins, especially of 5-MOP.

As the mutagenic potencies of the products studied here varied by more than a factor of 1000, they may involve a very different health risk.

Key Word Index

Angelica silvestris - Angelica archangelica - Ammi visnaga - Levisticum officinale - Peucedanum ostruthium - Pimpinella saxifraga and P. major - Umbelliferae - Commercial Products - 5-Methoxypsoralen, 8-Methoxypsoralen - Imperatorin - Mutagenic Potency - Carcinogenic Risk