The antigenotoxic effects of grapefruit juice on the damage induced by benzo(a)pyrene and evaluation of its interaction with hepatic and intestinal Cytochrome P450 (Cyp) 1a1.

We determined the capacity of grapefruit juice (GJ) to inhibit the rate of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPE) in mice treated with benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), an environmental contaminant that is biotransformed by Cyp1a1 and is a strong genotoxic agent. For this study, we administered 4.1, 20.8, and 41.6 μl/g body weight (b.w.) of GJ to BaP-treated mice (340 mg/kg). We found a significant decrease in the frequency of MNPE at 48 and 72 h compared to BaP-only treated animals. In turn, no prevention of the cytotoxic damage induced by BaP was found. We next explored whether GJ's antigenotoxic mechanism of action was related to an inhibitory effect on the activity of the Cyp1a1 enzyme. A reduction in microsomal hepatic and intestinal ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity of 20% and 44%, respectively, was found in mice treated with BaP and GJ compared to BaP-only treated animals. Furthermore, when EROD inhibition was tested in vitro, we found a concentration-dependent EROD inhibition by GJ, which reached 85% of the maximum level. Together, these results suggest that the protective effect of GJ against the genotoxicity of BaP may be related to the inhibition of Cyp1a1 enzyme activity.