Abstract

Studies on agents that modulate carcinogen-induced genotoxic effects in experimental animals are used to assess the antimutagenic or anticarcinogenic properties of putative chemopreventive compounds. We investigated the potency of asparagus-, tomato- and red grape-juice to modify the proportion of polychromatic erythrocyte (PCE) and frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPCE) induced by cyclophosphamide (CP) in male NIH mice. Groups of five mice were given the fruit juices (25, 50 or 100%) respectively, ad libitum, for 44 days then intraperitoneally (ip) injected with 40 mg/kg CP and killed 24 h later for cytological preparations and analysis. The control group animals were injected with CP (positive) or purified water (negative). Each group mean of the proportion of PCE and frequency of MNPCE was compared with the negative and positive control using the Mann-Whitney test. No statistically significant difference was found between the proportion of PCE in any experimental group and the negative control (P<0.05), suggesting that CP treatment alone or CP following pre-treatment with any of the plant juice did not induce erythropoietic cell toxicity. Also, pre-treatment with the plant juices did not modify the frequency of CP-induced MNPCE in this mouse strain using the present route of administration and treatment regime.

Key words: Asparagus, tomato, grape, micronucleus, cyclophosphamide, ant-mutagenicity.