摘要：Rubber particles emitted from tire tread by abrasion have caused environmental pollution, which may be hazardous to our health. In the present study, the mutagenicities of rubber additives used in rubber manufacturing and the tire extracts were estimated by means of the Ames test. The mutagenic activities of 8 vulcanization accelerators, 2 activators and 12 antioxidants were investigated in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100. Two of the rubber vulcanization accelerators, tetramethylthiuramdisulfide (TMTD) and zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate (Zn-DMDTC), were mutagenic in TA100, while no mutagenic effects were observed in TA98. Another accelerator, zinc diethyldithiocarbamate (Zn-DEDTC) was weakly mutagenic in TA100. None of the others had any mutagenic activity. Although several rubber vulcanization accelerators had mutagenic activities and some tires contained these additives, no significant mutagenic activity was found in the tire extracts in either strain with and without S9mix. These results suggested that the mutagenic activity of accelerators might be suppressed by other tire components such as activators or antioxidants.
