Euglena gracilis as an eukaryotic test organism for detecting mutagens and antimutagens.

The unicellular flagellate Euglena gracilis was used in order to assess the inhibition of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) mutagenicities, which induce white mutants due to the irreversible loss of chloroplasts. All tested compounds, including o-aminobenzoic acid and p-aminobenzoic acid, salicylic acid, acetylsalicylic acid, sodium salicylate and p-aminosalicylic acid, were not mutagenic per se and inhibited MNNG mutagenicity by at least 50%. The last two compounds inhibited by at least 50% also MNU mutagenicity.