Skip Navigation


Mutagenesis Advance Access originally published online on June 1, 2007
Mutagenesis 2007 22(4):293-302; doi:10.1093/mutage/gem016
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/4/293    most recent
gem016v1
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 arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Moura, D. J.
Right arrow Articles by Saffi, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Moura, D. J.
Right arrow Articles by Saffi, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Antioxidant properties of ß-carboline alkaloids are related to their antimutagenic and antigenotoxic activities

Dinara Jaqueline Moura1, Marc François Richter2, Jane Marlei Boeira3, João Antonio Pêgas Henriques1,4 and Jenifer Saffi1,4,*

1Departamento de Biofísica/Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil 2Laboratório de Farmacocinética, Centro de Pesquisa em Ciências Médicas, Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA), Canoas, RS, Brasil 3Departamento de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões (URI), Erechim, RS, Brasil 4Laboratório de Genética Toxicológica, Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA), Canoas, RS, Brasil

The ß-carboline alkaloids found in medical plants and in a variety of foods, beverages and cigarette smoke have a range of action in various biological systems. In vitro studies have demonstrated that these alkaloids can act as scavengers of reactive oxygen species. In this paper, we report the in vivo antioxidative properties of the aromatic (harmane, harmine, harmol) and dihydro-ß-carbolines (harmaline and harmalol) studied by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains proficient and deficient in antioxidant defenses. Their antimutagenic activity was also assayed in S. cerevisiae and the antigenotoxicity was tested by the comet assay in V79 cell line, when both eukaryotic systems were exposed to H2O2. We show that the alkaloids have a significant protective effect against H2O2 and paraquat oxidative agents in yeast cells, and that their ability to scavenge hydroxyl radicals contributes to their antimutagenic and antigenotoxic effects.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Laboratório de Genética Toxicológica, Avenida Farroupilha 8001, Prédio 01 sala 122; Bairro São José, CEP 92425-900, Canoas, RS, Brasil. Tel: +55 51 34774000; Fax: +55 51 34779214; Email: jenifer.saffi{at}ulbra.br

Received on February 6, 2007; revised on March 23, 2007; accepted on April 2, 2007.


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.