Antigenotoxic effect of Grifola frondosa revealed through smart eye test in Drosophila melanogaster.

POSTEMSKY, PABLO; PALERMO, ANA; CURVETTO, NÉSTOR

Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Simposio; IV International Symposium on Mushrooms in Brazil (IV SICOG); 2008

EMBRAPA

Some mushrooms exhibit antigenotoxic activity, thus their ingestion could help to prevent mutations and protect from illness and different types of cancer. The SMART eye test in D. melanogaster was used to study the Grifola frondosa putative antigenotoxic activity. DMBA was used as positive control (25 µmol/ 6.5g media/vial), and mycelium of Grifola frondosa was from flour wheat based spawn. Growing media was prepared with 500mg spawn or 500mg whole wheat flour and DMBA solution, its solvent or water were used for treatments. Crosses were made with 30 yellow males (y/Y) and 25 white females (w/w) per vial and the flies were left to lay eggs for 3 days.  White spots were counted in F1 females´s eyes because they reflect mutations induced in treated larvae. Each series was compared with the corresponding negative control by using the χ2  test for proportions. Larvae survival was also determined to evaluate treatment toxicity. Survival was higher in food containing spawn flour (80.5%) versus the one with only whole wheat flour (68%), but it was 59% and 55% respectively, in media containing 25µmol DMBA. G. frondosa significantly decreased the genotoxicity of this DMBA dose (66 vs 88 spots/100 eyes). Present findings suggest that G. frondosa extracts exert an antigenotoxic activity in D. melanogaster which at least in part could rely on the antioxidant activity of this mushroom.