Abstract
Antimutagenicity profiles of the enzymatic browning reaction products(EBRP) were investigated. The rec-assay with Bacillus subtilis strains $H17(rec^+)$ and $M45(rec^-)$ was carried out using their spores. The biological activities were evaluated for seven different enzymatic browning reaction products, which resulted from the reactions of seven polyphenols with polyphenol oxidase isolated from Ginkgo biloba leaves. In the spore $rec^-$ assay, most of the polyphenolic compounds tested were positive, whereas their enzymatic browning reaction products were tested negative. The mutagenicity of enzymic browning mixtures of the polyphenols and the enzymes obtained from Ginkgo biloba leaves showed negative results in the mutagenicity test using Bacillus subtilis strains $H17(rec^+)$ and $M45(rec^-)$. In the case where polyphenol oxidase inhibitors were added in the enzymatic reaction mixtures with polyphenols, the polyphenols showed mutagenic effect in the spore $rec^-$ assay. This suggests that the activity of polyphenol oxidase is decreased.