The investigation of the effects of L-ascorbic acid on human healthy lymphocyte and HL-60 cell culture

This study was carried out to determine the genotoxic, cytotoxic, epigenetic, and oxidative/antioxidative potential of vitamin C (L-Askorbik Asit, LAA) in healthy lymphocyte culture or promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) lines treated for 6 or 24 hours with concentrations of 0.5, 1, or 2 mg/ml. Comet test and Ames test for genotoxic effect, MTT test for cytotoxic effect, and expression level of FAS and Catalase genes for epigenetic effect were investigated. In addition, intracellular/extracellular Ca+2 and Mg+2 levels, oxidative stress parameters, and in silico molecular clamping forces, which are related to genetic and epigenetic effects, were determined. According to the comet test findings, it was seen that LAA did not have any genotoxic effect. In the MTT test performed on the HL-60 cell line, LAA showed a pronounced proliferative effect compared to the control. In healthy lymphocytes, expression (transcription) of genes decreased significantly with a high dose of the test substance, while expression increase was observed in HL-60 cells, with one exception. There was no clear correlation between cell type, dose, and time in Ca+2/Mg+2 level. In addition, significant decreases in oxidative stress (OSI) were observed at some concentrations of LAA treatment for 6 hours in the HL-60 cell line, while significant OSI increases were observed in some 24-hour treatments. At the same time, free binding (Gibbs) energy was not found to be significantly high in in silico molecular docking analysis. According to the results of all studies, LAA has no significant genotoxic and cytotoxic effects. However, the differences observed in gene expression and oxidative stress parameters according to cell type, LAA concentration, and treatment time are remarkable.