CYTOTOXICITY AND GENOTOXICITY OF DIALLYL SULFIDE AND DIALLYL DISULFIDE TOWARDS CHINESE-HAMSTER OVARY CELLS

Two compounds found in garlic, diallyl sulfide (DAS) and diallyl disul fide (DDS), were tested for cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in a Chine se hamster ovary cell line. DDS was found to be more cytotoxic than DA S (showing a D-q of 1.6 mu g/ml and a D-0 of 0.6 mu g/ml as opposed to values of 295 and 90 mu g/ml, respectively). Both compounds were foun d to induce both chromosome aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) with DDS again being more active on a weight-for-weight basis, exhibiting activity at concentrations below 10 mu g/ml compared with the levels of 300 mu g/ml and above required for DAS to show any effec t. The addition of rat liver S-9 activation fraction to the assays mod ified the effects of the two compounds in a non-consistent manner. It reduced the induction of SCEs by both compounds, enhanced the generati on of aberrations by DDS (but not by DAS) and radically altered the pa rameters of both survival curves, reducing the D-q values almost to ze ro but increasing the D-0 values. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.