Sesamol exhibits antimutagenic activity against oxygen species mediated mutagenicity

The effects of sesamol, a phenolic compound responsible for the high resist ance of sesame oil to oxidative deterioration as compared with other vegeta ble oils, have been investigated after mutagen treatment in various strains of Salmonella typhimurium. Sesamol was shown to exhibit strong antimutagen ic effects in the Ames tester strains TA100 and TA102. The TA102 strain has been shown to be highly sensitive to reactive oxygen species. Mutagenicity was induced by the generation of oxygen radicals by tert-butylhydroperoxid e (t-BOOH) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2); therefore, the antimutagenic proper ty of sesamol was attributed to its antioxidant properties. The superoxide and hydroxyl radical scavenging capabilities have further been elucidated u sing in vitro test systems. It was further shown to have a desmutagenic eff ect on t-BOOH-induced mutagenesis in TA102 strain. Sesamol also inhibited t he mutagenicity of sodium azide (Na-azide) in TA100 tester strain while it had no effect on nitroquinoline-N-oxide (NQNO)-induced mutagenesis in TA98 strain of Salmonella typhimurium. Since active oxygen spec;ies are involved in multiple stage processes of carcinogenicity, this compound may also exh ibit anticarcinogenic properties. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.