Mutagenicity of gingerol and shogaol and antimutagenicity of zingerone in Salmonella/microsome assay.

Ginger extract and its constituents gingerol, shogaol and zingerone were tested in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 100, TA 98, TA 1535 and TA 1538 in the presence and in absence of S9 mix. It was observed that ginger extract, gingerol and shogaol were mutagenic on metabolic activation in strains TA 100 and TA 1535, but zingerone was non-mutagenic in all the four strains with or without S9 mix. When mutagenicity of gingerol and shogaol was tested in presence of different concentrations of zingerone it was observed that zingerone suppressed mutagenic activity in both the compounds in a dose dependent manner.