Induction of micronuclei and chromosomal aberrations by the mycotoxin patulin in mammalian cells: role of ascorbic acid as a modulator of patulin clastogenicity

Patulin is a mycotoxin produced by several species of Penicillium, Aspergil lus and Byssochlamys. Patulin is a common contaminant of ripe apples used f or the production of apple juice concentrates and is also present in other fruits, vegetables and food products. Patulin has been reported to have mut agenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic properties. Nevertheless, these proper ties are still a matter of debate. In this report, we further investigated the genotoxicity of patulin in mammalian cells by two different approaches. Firstly, we evaluated the induction of micronuclei in cytokinesis-blocked human lymphocytes, This approach is important because available data concer ning the genetic toxicity of patulin in human cells is sparse. secondly, we chose an established model for patulin genotoxicity, i.e. the chromosomal aberration assay in V79 Chinese hamster cells, to clarify whether concomita nt exposure to ascorbic acid with the mycotoxin modulates or not the clasto genicity of patulin. The results unequivocally show induction of DNA-damage d cells by patulin as assessed by both cytogenetic assays. In addition, an almost complete abolition of patulin (0.8 mu M) clastogenicity was observed in the presence of 80 mu M ascorbic acid (P < 0.05), showing that although a genetic risk is present, ascorbic acid could somehow partially modulate this problem.