<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Vitamin C (VC) is a well-known antioxidant and strong free radical scavenger. Its antioxidant activity is useful for protection of cellular macromolecules, particularly DNA, from oxidative damage induced by different agents. This study was undertaken to evaluate the optimum level of VC in attenuating the chromosome aberrations (CAs) and DNA damage after iron sulfate (FeSO4) acute administration in Wistar rats. The results exhibited that the increase of CAs and DNA damage induced by FeSO4, 200 mg Fe/kg, could be reduced significantly by VC pretreatment at the dose of 500 mg/kg (p&lt;0.001), but not in the 100 mg/kg group. The findings provide evidence that VC at the dose of 500 mg/kg exerted a possible protective effect against FeSO4 induced CAs and DNA damage. The possible mechanisms of VC may be attributed to its property as a free radical scavenger or to its indirect action in reducing the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS).</abstract>

Vitamin C (VC) is a well-known antioxidant and strong free radical scavenger. Its antioxidant activity is useful for protection of cellular macromolecules, particularly DNA, from oxidative damage induced by different agents. This study was undertaken to evaluate the optimum level of VC in attenuating the chromosome aberrations (CAs) and DNA damage after iron sulfate (FeSO4) acute administration in Wistar rats. The results exhibited that the increase of CAs and DNA damage induced by FeSO4, 200 mg Fe/kg, could be reduced significantly by VC pretreatment at the dose of 500 mg/kg (p<0.001), but not in the 100 mg/kg group. The findings provide evidence that VC at the dose of 500 mg/kg exerted a possible protective effect against FeSO4 induced CAs and DNA damage. The possible mechanisms of VC may be attributed to its property as a free radical scavenger or to its indirect action in reducing the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Iron induced genotoxicity: attenuation by vitamin C and its optimization

Cytogenetics and Molecular Toxicology Laboratory, Section of Genetics, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh–202002, India

Interdisciplinary Toxicology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Iron induced genotoxicity: attenuation by vitamin C and its optimization"}

Vitamin C (VC) is a well-known antioxidant and strong free radical scavenger. Its antioxidant activity is useful for protection of cellular macromolecules,...

Iron induced genotoxicity: attenuation by vitamin C and its optimization

Published Online: Dec 30, 2014

Page range: 154 - 158

Received: Jul 01, 2014

Accepted: Sep 14, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/intox-2014-002

© Interdisciplinary Toxicology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.