Assessment of the Mutagenicity of Lycopene by the Ames Test.

Abstract

Lycopene is a hydrocarbon carotenoid in tomato products. We examined the mutagenicity of lycopene by the Ames test, to evaluate the safety of lycopene. Lycopene extracted from tomato paste was added as a solution or suspension in DMSO at 0.05-5000μg per plate. Lycopene showed no detectable mutagenicity on Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, TA1535 and TA1537, and Escherichia coli WP2uvrA- with or without S-9 mix.