Antimutagenic effect of heteroxylans, arabinogalactans, pectins and mannans in the Euglena assay

A series of plant cell wall polysaccharides - heteroxylans, arabinogalactan s, pectins and mannans exerted antimutagenic (antibleaching) activity again st acridine orange- and ofloxacin-induced mutagenicity in the Euglena assay . All polysaccharides tested exhibited a significant dose-dependent antible aching activity and the percentage inhibition of mutagenicity ranged from 5 2 to 96%. It can be assumed that the antimutagenicity of the polysaccharide s depends on their structural and compositional properties as well as on th e different mode of action of both the mutagens tested.