DEMONSTRATION OF A COOPERATIVE ACTION OF BACTERIAL AND INTESTINAL-MUCOSA ENZYMES IN THE ACTIVATION OF MUTAGENS

While 2-aminoanthracene and 2-aminofluorene are converted to frameshift mutagens by microsomal preparations from rat livers, the microsomes from the intestinal mucosa of the same animals, under the experimental conditions used herein, either have little such activity or lack it altogether. Cell-free extracts of the colon anaerobe Bacteroides fragilis may exhibit such activity to varying degrees depending upon the conditions of incubation. However mixtures consisting of cell-free extracts from B. fragilis and microsomes from intestinal mucosa demonstrate significant- more than additive- activity in converting these chemicals to mutagens. © 1979.