ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a basic understanding of Salmonella mutagenicity assays, those interested in aquatic toxicology can gain a deeper understanding of the assay and its uses by examining the use of the assay in their specialty. Researchers and public health specialists have contemplated what effect such a plethora of substances may have on public health. Since most environmental exposures to most of the products are chronic, low-level exposures, the greatest concerns generally revolve around carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and teratogenicity. In the areas of mutagenesis and carcinogenesis, the most extensively used assay is the Salmonella mutagenicity assay. The spiral Salmonella assay is an automated assay that generates dose-response data from a continuous concentration gradient on a single agar plate. The Salmonella typhimurium mammalian activation assay for mutagenicity is a rapid, reliable, bacterial test for demonstrating whether or not a substance can interact with genetic material to cause a permanent mutation.
