Background:
More than 2,000 chemicals have been used in the tannery industry.
Although some tannery chemicals have been reported to have harmful effects on both human health
and the environment, only a few have been subjected to genotoxicity and cytotoxicity evaluations.
Objective:
This study focused on cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of ten tannery chemicals widely used
in China.
Materials and Methods:
DNA-damaging effects were measured using the SOS/umu test with
Salmonella typhimurium TA1535/pSK1002. Chromosome-damaging and cytotoxic effects were
determined with the high-content in vitro Micronucleus test (MN test) using the human-derived cell
lines MGC-803 and A549.
Conclusion:
The cytotoxicity of the ten tannery chemicals differed somewhat between the two cell
assays, with A549 cells being more sensitive than MGC-803 cells. None of the chemicals induced
DNA damage before metabolism, but one was found to have DNA-damaging effects on metabolism.
Four of the chemicals, DY64, SB1, DB71 and RR120, were found to have chromosome-damaging
effects. A Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) analysis indicated that one structural
feature favouring chemical genotoxicity, Hacceptor-path3-Hacceptor, may contribute to the
chromosome-damaging effects of the four MN-test-positive chemicals.
