Effects of the antioxidants curcumin and vitamin C on cisplatin-induced clastogenesis in Wistar rat bone marrow cells

The use of dietary antioxidants to prevent antitumor agent-induced chromoso mal damage in nontumor cells is currently eliciting considerable interest. Curcumin (CMN) is a dietary antioxidant that has been reported to protect a gainst clastogenesis in in vivo and in vitro assays. This study was underta ken to investigate the modulatory effects of CMN on cisplatin-induced chrom osomal aberrations in Wistar rat bone marrow cells and whether there is any potentiation of these effects with the combination between CMN and vitamin C (VC), which has been reported to reduce the clastogenic effect of many a ntitumor agents in in vivo assays. Animals treated with CMN plus a single d ose of cisplatin, at 18, 24 or 72 h following treatment, presented a statis tically significant reduction in the total amount of chromosomal damage and in the number of abnormal metaphases. The results also indicate that the c ombination between antioxidants would not be effective in protecting agains t cisplatin-induced chromosomal damage in animals sacrificed 24 h after cis platin treatment. Under the present experimental conditions, CMN could prev ent cisplatin-induced clastogenesis by acting as a free radical scavenger. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.