Abstract

PROTECTIVE POTENTIAL OF CURCUMA LONGA AGAINST GENOTOXICITY OF CHEMICAL CLASTOGENS

Kiran Chauhan and Sanjay Kumar Narang*

ABSTRACT

Naturally occurring antioxidants have been extensively studied for their capacity to protect organisms and cells from oxidative damage. Many plant constituents including turmeric (Curcuma longa) appear to be potent antimutagens and antioxidants. Curcumin has been used as an herbal medicine. Curcumin shows a variety of physiological and pharmacological effects. Several studies indicate curcumin to be anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant. It acts as a superoxide radical scavenger and as a singlet oxygen quencher. Chromosomal aberrations based human syndromes are very critical and sometimes leads to lethality. In treating mutagenicity, compared to modern medicine, the traditional herbal medicine based on medicinal plants has some ability to cure without worsening the condition. In the present study, we evaluated the anticlastogenic effect of turmeric against chromosomal aberrations induced by K2Cr2O7 and EMS in bone marrow cells of mice. The results showed that the clastogenic effect was minimized by turmeric extract in mice model.

Keywords: Clastogen, Chromosomal aberrations, Genotoxicity, Turmeric.