engleski

ANALYSIS OF DNA DAMAGE IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD CULTURES TREATED WITH CURCUMIN OR SUNSET YELLOW

Curcumin, spice used as a natural food colorant, has been long recognized as a potent therapeutic and protective agent and is among the most frequently tested substances in various researches. However, certain genotoxic effects for curcumin were previously reported. Synthetic food colorants, including sunset yellow, are often associated with health risks especially in vulnerable populations. In this study, we aimed to compare curcumin and sunset yellow induced DNA damage using alkaline comet assay in peripheral blood mononuclear cells treated in whole blood cultures. After one hour exposure DNA intensity in both curcumin and sunset yellow treatments was lower than one registered in DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) control. Nevertheless, prolonged exposure (24h) has shown significantly lower DNA intensity after treatment with the highest tested concentrations of curcumin and significantly higher DNA intensity in cultures treated with the highest concentration of sunset yellow. Obtained results suggest curcumins ability to reduce background levels of DNA damage acting as an antigenotoxic agent. Longer exposure to higher concentrations (10 and 20 μM) of sunset yellow significantly increases induced DNA damage, although resulting in lower DNA damage compared to control, even in 24h treatment.

Curcumin ; Sunset yellow, Comet assay ; Lymphocytes ; DNA damage

Rad je rađen na Institutu za medicinska istraživanja i medicinu rada, Zagreb, Hrvatska, te na University of Sarajevo, Institute for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Sarajevo, Bosnia andHerzegovina