Mutagenic potential of nitroguanidine and nitrosoguanidine in the Drosophila melanogaster sex‐linked recessive lethal assay

Nitroguanidine (NG) and its degradation product nitrosoguanidine (NSG) were evaluated for their mutagenic potential by using Drosophila melanogaster sex‐linked recessive lethal (SLRL) assay. Following 72 h of feeding exposure, NG and NSG at concentrations of 4–8 μg ml −1 and 15–20 mg ml −1 , respectively, were not mutagenic in the test system. The frequencies of mutations for NG and the negative control were 0.188% and 0.096%, respectively. The frequencies of mutations for NSG and the negative control experiments were 0.049% and 0.05%, respectively. The positive control mutation frequencies were 15% and 17.8% for the two assays. The differences between the mutation frequencies of NG and NSG and their negative controls were not significant.