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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Kinetic Screening of Nuclease Activity using Nucleic Acid Probes
Published on: November 1, 2019
Pro/Antigenotoxic Activity of Usnic Acid Enantiomers In Vitro
I A Prokop'ev1, E V Filippov2, G V Filippova2
1Institute of Biological Problems of Cryolithozone, Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia. ilya.a.prokopiev@gmail.com.
Abstract:
The effect of usnic acid enantiomers on the genotoxic effects of dioxidine and methyl methanesulfonate was studied in vitro in human peripheral blood lymphocytes by the DNA comet method. We found that usnic acid enantiomers in a concentration range of 0.01-1.00 μM demonstrated pronounced antigenotoxic activity and reduced DNA damage induced by genotoxicants by 37-70%. In the same concentration range, the test enantiomers reduced the level of atypical DNA comets (hedgehogs) induced by genotoxicants by 23-61%. The test compounds did not modulate the effects of genotoxicants in a concentration of 10 μM and potentiated them in a concentration of 100 μM. The modifying activity of usnic acid did not depend on spatial configuration and on the used model genotoxicant.
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