Skip Navigation


Mutagenesis Advance Access originally published online on April 4, 2006
Mutagenesis 2006 21(3):199-204; doi:10.1093/mutage/gel017
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/3/199    most recent
gel017v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Maralhas, A.
Right arrow Articles by Rodrigues, A. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Maralhas, A.
Right arrow Articles by Rodrigues, A. S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Genotoxicity and endoreduplication inducing activity of the food flavouring eugenol

Alexandra Maralhas1, Ana Monteiro1, Célia Martins1, Michel Kranendonk1, António Laires1,2, José Rueff1,* and António S. Rodrigues1

1 Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universidade Nova de Lisboa R. da Junqueira 96, P 1349-008 Lisbon, Portugal 2 SABT, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisbon, Portugal

Eugenol (1-allyl-3-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzene; CAS No. 97-53-0), a compound extracted from clove oil and marjoram, is widely used as a food flavouring substance and is present in spices such as basil, cinnamon and nutmeg. It is also used in dentistry as an antiseptic and analgesic. Structural similarities with the class IIB IARC carcinogen safrole raises questions on its putative carcinogenicity. We evaluated the genotoxicity of eugenol in V79 cells using chromosomal aberrations (CAs), with and without rat liver biotransformation (S9). Eugenol induced CAs, with significant increases (3.5% aberrant cells) at 2500 µM, demonstrating cytotoxicity at higher doses. S9 increased the induction of CAs in a dose-dependent manner to 15% at 2500 µM, with a high frequency of chromatid exchanges. In particular, an increase of endoreduplicated cells was observed, from 0% at control levels to 2.3 and 5% at 2000 µM, without and with S9, respectively. Since endoreduplication has been linked to inhibition of topoisomerase II, the topoisomerase II inhibitor ICRF-193 was used as a control inducer of endoreduplication (0.1–0.5 µM), increasing the number of endoreduplicated cells from 0% (control) to 3.5% (0.5 µM). S9 did not influence endoreduplication by ICRF-193. Both eugenol and ICRF-193 were also assayed for inhibition of topoisomerase II, and both showed a dose-dependent inhibitory effect, with ICRF-193 being a more potent inhibitor. Our results confirm that eugenol is genotoxic and raises the possibility of it having topoisomerase II inhibiting activity.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed: Tel: +351 21 3610290; Fax: +351 21 3622018; E-mail: rueff.gene{at}fcm.unl.pt


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.