Article commentary: Cell death is antimutagenic, and other considerations when testing for antimutagenicity

摘要

Dead cells do not mutate. This is not a new concept. A corollary to this is that cell toxicity is antimutagenic; any substance or procedure that causes cells to die or prevents them from replicating, regardless of its mechanism of action, will reduce the number of mutant cells and may wrongly lead to the conclusion that the substance is an antimutagen. However, although death is antimutagenic, it is not therapeutic.