Antigenotoxic Activity of Some Flavonoids in Drosophila Melanogaster and Investigation of Their Antioxidant Effects

It is important to know genotoxic, antigenotoxic and antioxidant effects of flavonoids found in vegetables and fruits at high levels due to their protective effects against different diseases. There is a great variety of different asssays available to determine the genotoxic and antigenotoxic activities of flavonoids, but among them some advantages of Drosophila Wing Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test (SMART) such as fastness and sensitiveness, make it suitable for screening of probable genotoxic and antigenotoxic activites.In this study, genotoxic activites of myricetin, luteolin, galangin and resveratrol, and their antigenotoxic activites aganist MNU, CP and MMC were tested in the wing imaginal cells of the standart cross. Their effects on the antioxidant system of the organism were investigated with the adult male flies developed from three day-old larvae which were exposed previously to different flavonoid concentrations. In the genotoxicity and antigenotoxicity studies, the wings of the trans?heterozygous flies were scored under 400X magnification for the presence of mwh and/or flr spots. These spots can be due to different genotoxic events such as mitotic recombination or mutation (deletion, point mutation, specific types of translocation, etc.). In the evaluation of antigenotoxic results, the decrease in mutagen induced spot frequencies by flavonoids taken into consideration. In the antioxidant system studies, reduced glutathione levels and SOD, CAT, GR and GST enzymes activities were measured using the supernatants obtained from the homogenates of adult male flies.Results revealed that the flavonoids at all concentrations did not cause genotoxicty and any important effect on the antioxidant system of the organism, but displayed antigenotoxic activity by reducing the frequency of mutagen induced spots in varying proportions. These results indicate that wing spot test can be recommended as a suitable in vivo test for the determination of genotoxictiy and antigenotoxicity of flavonoids.