Absence of Mutagenic Effects of Sodium Dichloroacetate

Sodium dichloroacetate (DCA) is a drug with potential for treatingpatients with stroke and head injury. Conflicting evidence hasbeen published on the mutagenic potential of DCA. A series ofgenetic tests for mutagenicity and clastogenicity was carriedout on pharmaceutical grade DCA. Four types of mutagenicitytest were included, with and without metabolic activation whereappropriate. These studies included: (i) Salmonella and Escherichiacoli mutation (Ames) tests, (ii) thymidine kinase locus forwardmutation in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells, (iii) tests for chromosomalaberrations in Chinese hamster ovary cells, and (iv) an in vivorat bone marrow erythroid micronucleus test. In each study,there was no evidence of mutagenic activity attributable toDCA. It is possible that the present test material, of pharmaceuticalgrade, has fewer impurities than materials studied in previousreports. These data extend, and in some cases contradict, previouspublished reports on DCA.