Antigenotoxic effects of the disulfide compound persicasulfide A (PSA) on rat lymphocytes exposed to oxidative stress.

The antigenotoxic effect of persicasulfide A (PSA) from Ferula persica on DNA damage induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was evaluated using single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE). PSA was extracted from F. persica, characterized by NMR and its antioxidant/antigenotoxic effects were investigated. The antigenotoxic effect of solutions containing either PSA (1, 10, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 microM) or ascorbic acid (250, 500, 750 and 1000 microM) alone, or in the presence of H2O2 (25, 50, 100 and 200 microM) were tested on lymphocytes derived from the blood of healthy male Wistar rats (250-300 g) by using the comet assay. The degree of damage to DNA after exposure to different solutions was calculated based on the amount of DNA present in the tail compared to the total amounts of lymphocyte DNA. PSA did not show genotoxicity and caused a 50% reduction in DNA damage induced by H2O (EC50:476.47+/-67.46 microM). Compared to the EC50 for ascorbic acid (1399.23+/-205.21 microM), it was deduced that PSA was more effective than ascorbic acid in the prevention of oxidative damage to DNA.