Antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic potentials of some Thai vegetables

Fifteen kinds of commonly consumed Thai vegetables were sequentially extracted with hexane, chloroform and methanol, and then tested for antimutagenic activities against direct-acting (AF-2 and NaN3) and indirect-acting (AFB1 and B(a)P) mutagens using Ames' Salmonella mutagenicity test with Salmonella typhimurium TA100 as tester strain. It was found that only the methanol extract of neem leaves contain weak antimutagen inhibiting the mutagenicities of both direct-acting mutagens. Interestingly, all vegetables studied were found to contain chemical compounds, mainly nonpolar ones, capable of inhibiting the mutagenicity of AFB1, while only some vegetables contain chemical compounds capable of inhibiting the mutagenicity of B(a)P, which is also an indirect-acting mutagen. Studies on anticarcinogenic potentials demonstrated that Thai bitter gourd fruits, but not sweet basil leaves, at the concentration of 6.25% and 12.5% in the diet, partially inhibited DMBA-induced mammary gland carcinogenesis in female Sprague-Dawley rats when fed to the animals 2 weeks prior to DMBA. Results in the present study therefore demonstrated that most Thai vegetables contain antimutagens inhibiting the mutagenicity of some indirect-acting mutagen, particularly AFB1. The mechanism of their antimutagenicity may probably be the inhibition of the activity of metabolic-activating enzymes in rat liver homogenates. Very interestingly, our results clearly reveal that Thai bitter gourd fruits, which possess Phase II enzymes inducing property, as well as the ability to reduce Phase I enzyme activities in rat liver, contain some anticarcinogens or chemopreventive agents. However, sweet basil leaves that possess both Phase I and Phase II enzyme-inducing properties may not contain any anticarcinogen, at least against DMBA-induced mammary gland carcinogenesis.