The long-term effects of exposure to monomeric methylmethacrylate have
yet to be established. We have measured the toxicity and mutagenicity of
methylmethacrylate for Salmonella typhimurium. At levels of thirty-four
millimolar, methylmethacrylate exhibited 28 per cent of the mutagenic
activity of an equimolar dose of dimethylnitrosamine. Methylmethacrylate
alone exhibited toxicity to the bacteria, but when the methylmethacrylate
was incubated with a rat-liver enzyme metabolizing system, mutagenesis was
induced. These findings suggest that an intermediate metabolite of
methylmethacrylate is mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium.