Introduction

Pharmaceuticals with antimutagenic activity are promising agents for combined therapy of pathologies based on increased level of spontaneous genomic instability or induced one. However, their extensive use against environmental and industrial mutagens in healthy individuals is limited. [1]. Thus, a search for new sources of antimutagens is needed. We have encountered lots of data for grapes and red wine polyphenols such as procyanidins, antocyans, quercetin, resveratrol and others having protective genomic properties. [2, 3]. At the same time, the mechanisms underlying these positive effects are described poorly.

The aim of our work was to estimate the role of red wine polyphenols in correction of induced genomic instability in mouse bone marrow cells and in Salmonella typhimurium cells.

Material and methods

Antimutagenic effects of red wine in conditions of chromosomal instability induced by dioxidine (300 mg/kg, i.p.) were investigated by the routine cytogenetic method in mouse bone marrow cells.

Outbred mice (20-22 g, 8-10 weeks, N = 70) were used.

Bacterial reverse mutation test (Ames test) with histidine-requiring strain TA100 of Salmonella typhimurium and sodium azide (5 μg/dish) was carried out to detect possible point mutations.

Results and discussion

The results obtained from the cytogenetic examination are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Effects of red wine on chromosomal aberration types in mouse bone marrow cells (M±m)

As it follows from the quantitative data, red wine had a tendency to decrease chromosome aberrations. It was most evident for the repeat-dose introduction of 36 ml/kg.

Ames test showed results presented in Table 2.

Table 2

Effects of red wine on revertant colonies of S. typhimurium strain TA100 in vitro

Thus, red wine provided significant effect against sodium azide-induced mutagenesis at the doses 0,1 and 1 μl/dish.

Conclusions

In our experiments, red wine showed dose-dependent protective action against genomic instability at the gene level of organization of genetic material. The properties of the used bacterial strain and the known mechanism of specific genotoxicity of sodium azide based on intracellular increase of reactive oxygen species allow to assume that antimutagenic effect of red wine is possibly due to antioxidant action of polyphenols.

2. Bukatin M.V., Ovchinnikova O.Yu. Natural biological antioxidants in clinical practice. Fundamental’nye issledovaniya. – 2006. – № 6. – P. 29-30.

3. Goncharova R.I., Kuzhir T.D. Antimutagens as anticancerogens: molecular basis of application. Ecologicheskaya genetika. – 2005. – Volume 3. – № 3. – P.19-32.