title: Antigenotoxic effect of allicin against methyl methanesulphonate induced genotoxic damage.
abstract: Allicin, one of the sulfur compounds especially thiosulphonates of garlic (Allium sativum), possesses antioxidant and thioldisulphide exchange activity and is also shown to cause a variety of actions potentially useful for human health. In this investigation we determined its antigenotoxic potential using chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) induced by methyl methanesulphonate (MMS) as genotoxic end points both in the presence as well as absence of rat liver microsomal activation system (S9 mix) in cultured human lymphocytes. We tested the effect of 5, 10 and 20 microM of allicin on the damage exerted by 60 microM of MMS. The levels of CAs and SCEs were lowered suggesting an antigenotoxic role of allicin against genotoxic damage both in the presence as well as absence of metabolic activation.
authors.affiliation: Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, India. yasir_hasansiddique@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Yasir Hasan
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Siddique
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Afzal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations / Q000139:chemically induced*; D004220:Disulfides; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D008741:Methyl Methanesulfonate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000633:toxicity; D008862:Microsomes, Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D051381:Rats; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects*; D013441:Sulfinic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D004220:Disulfides; D013441:Sulfinic Acids; C014674:methyl methanethiosulfonate; C006452:allicin; D008741:Methyl Methanesulfonate