ANTIGENOTOXIC EFFECT OF Zuccagnia punctata Cav. AND ARGENTINE PROPOLIS EXTRACTS

ZAMPINI I. CATIANA,; VILLARINI MILENA; MORETTI MASSIMO; DOMINICI LUCA; NIEVA MORENO M. INÉS; ISLA M. INÉS

Tafí del Valle - Tucumán

Jornada; Jornadas de Biología; 2004

Zuccagnia punctata Cav (Fabaceae), a South American plant species, is the botanical origin of propolis from Amaicha del Valle, Tucumán, Argentina. In previous works it has been reported that ethanolic extracts of both the plant and the propolis showed antimicrobial, free-radical scavenging, antioxidant and antimutagenic (Ames test) activities. For this, both natural products were used in blue berries conservation. Recently, an antibacterial compound (i.e. 2’,4’ dihydroxychalcone) was isolated from them. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antigenotoxic effects of both extracts using the alkaline Comet assay on metabolically competent human-derived hepatoma (Hep G2) cells. We showed that propolis and Z. punctata extracts were able to diminish the DNA damage induced by benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) and 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxyde (4-NQO) in Hep G2 cells. This effect could be explained by their 2’,4’ dihydroxychalcone contents. Otherwise, the tested natural products did not show neither cytotoxic nor genotoxic effects on Hep G2 cells. Our results justify its use in food and pharmaceutical industries.