Protective Effect of Chrysin, a Dietary Flavone against Genotoxic and Oxidative Damage Induced by Mitomycin C in Balb/C Mice

Abstract

Anticancer drugs, such as Mitomycin C (MMC), can interact with biological molecules and cause genetic damage in normal cells. In this respect, we investigated the potential of chrysin, a flavone known as a potent scavenger of free radicals generated by anticancer agents, to protect mice against MMC-induced genotoxicity. The amount of DNA damage in the liver, kidney and bone marrow cells, in Balb/C mice treated with MMC (6 mg/kg, i.p) and the frequency of chromosomal aberrations indicated the genotoxic effect of MMC. Besides, a significant increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPx, GST) and lipid peroxidation is revealed. On the other hand, we noticed a regression of the genotoxic effect when studying the same parameters in Balb/C mice treated with chrysin (40 mg/kg b. wt., i.p) 24 h prior to MMC (6 mg/kg, i.p) injection. This study concluded that the protective effect of chrysin against genotoxicity of MMC results partly from its antioxidant effect.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Professor Mohamed Ghoul (Laboratory of Biomolecular Engineering, ENSAIA-INPL, University of Lorraine, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France) who provided the chrysin molecule and Professor Adel Rdissi for his help in improving the language used in this article.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ Contributions

SA: Was responsible for the conception and design, testing and data acquisition, analysis and data interpretation and drafted the manuscript. BJ: made substantial contribution to conception and revised it critically for important intellectual content and to conception and revised chromosome aberration assay. LA: made substantial contribution to conception and revised comet assay. JK: made substantial contribution to conception and revised antioxidant activities. GK: made substantial contribution to conception and revised it critically for important intellectual content. LCG: made substantial contribution to conception and revised it critically for important intellectual content.

Ethics Approval

All experiments were performed in accordance with guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals as published by the National Institute of Health (USA). All experiments received the explicit approval of the Animal Ethics Committee of the University Hospital Fattouma-Bourguiba of Monastir, Tunisia.

Consent for Publication

All authors approved of the publication of the manuscript in its current form.

Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.