Comparative effects of some local food condiments on sodium arsenite-induced clastogenicity.

The modulatory effects of the aqueous extracts of some locally consumed food condiments namely garlic (Allium sativum), ginger (Zingiber officinale), sconio (Pimpinella anisumm LINNE) and cloves (Syzygium aromaticum) on the clastogenic effects of sodium arsenite, a known inorganic clastogen were assessed in mouse bone marrow cells using the micronucleus assay method. Results of preliminary investigation of the clastogenicity of the condiments show that aqueous extracts of these condiments have very mild clastogenic activity in mice in the order garlic > ginger and sconio > cloves and that extracts of ginger and sconio seem to have the same degree of clastogenicity. Pre-treatment of mice for seven days with extracts of the condiments orally before exposure to the oral dose (2.5 mg/kg body wt.) of sodium arsenite resulted in a remarkable reduction of the magnitude of formation of micronuclei in polychromatic erythrocytes of the bone marrow. The degree of reduction of the clastogenic effect of arsenite was of the order ginger > garlic > cloves > sconio. This reduction of arsenite induced clastogenicity by aqueous extracts of the condiments may be due in part to the antioxidant properties of their chemical constituents, thus suggesting that the condiments may be useful in the prevention of arsenite-induced toxicity in areas where arsenic is an environmental contaminant.