[Study on the antimutagenicity of curcumin]

Curcumin is a coloring additive used in food, which has many biological functions. In order to provide basic information on its anticarcinogenicity, the antimutagenicity of curcumin was determined by Ames test and micronuclei test. The results indicated that curcumin (60-250 micrograms/plate) inhibited the revert mutant induced by 2, 7-diaminofluorene (2AF) with S-9 in TA98 and in TA100. The inhibitory rates are 29.5%-55.9% and 37.5%-59.1% respectively. Before the injection of cyclophosphamide (CP), mice were given with curcumin (60, 120, and 240 mg/kg) orally once a day for a week. The results revealed that curcumin reduced the micronuclei formation induced by CP. The inhibitory rates of curcumin are 43.7%, 56.9%, and 63.9% respectively, which are different from that of the positive control significantly.