Protection and induction of chromosomal damage by vitamin C in human lymphocyte cultures

✍ Scribed by Lusânia M. Greggi Antunes; Catarina S. Takahashi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 37 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-3211
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6866(1999)19:1<53::aid-tcm6>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

Some chemotherapeutic approaches have proposed the use of antioxidants such as vitamin C (VC) to minimize the cytotoxicity and damage induced in normal tissue by antitumor agents that produce free radicals. Nevertheless, VC can also be cytotoxic, genotoxic, and harmful when combined with antitumor agents in human cells in vitro. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of VC (100, 200, 500, and 1,000 mg/ml) on human peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro and its anticlastogenic effect on chromosomal aberrations induced by doxorubicin (DXR).

VC did not show a clastogenic effect by itself, except at 1,000 mg/ml. At the concentration of 100 or 200 mg/ml of VC, administered in pre-, post-, or simultaneous treatment, there was a significant reduction in both chromosome aberrations and number of abnormal metaphases induced by DXR. At the doses of 500 or 1,000 mg/ml, VC did not present the same protective effect and was cytotoxic. Under the present experimental conditions, the efficiency of VC in protecting against chromosome damage was dependent on the doses used.