Mangiferin: A xanthone attenuates mercury chloride induced cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in HepG2 cells

Mangiferin (MGN), a dietary C-glucosylxanthone present in Mangifera indica, is known to possess a spectrum of beneficial pharmacological properties. This study demonstrates antigenotoxic potential of MGN against mercuric chloride (HgCl2)-induced genotoxicity in HepG2 cell line. Treatment of HepG2 cells with various concentrations of HgCl2 for 3 h caused a dose-dependent increase in micronuclei frequency and elevation in DNA strand breaks (olive tail moment and tail DNA). Pretreatment with MGN significantly (p < 0.01) inhibited HgCl2 -induced (20 µM for 30 h) DNA damage. An optimal antigenotoxic effect of MGN, both in micronuclei and comet assay, was observed at a concentration of 50 µM. Furthermore, HepG2 cells treated with various concentrations of HgCl2 resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the dichlorofluorescein fluorescence, indicating an increase in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, MGN by itself failed to generate ROS at a concentration of 50 µM, whereas it could significantly decrease HgCl2 -induced ROS. Our study clearly demonstrates that MGN pretreatment reduced the HgCl2-induced DNA damage in HepG2 cells, thus demonstrating the genoprotective potential of MGN, which is mediated mainly by the inhibition of oxidative stress.