Mutagenicity and antimutagenicity of water extracts from gac fruit (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng) (original) (raw)

Background: Gac fruit (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng) was used as food, colourant and medicine for a period of time. Moreover, several in vitro and in vivo studies showed that gac fruit contained many phytochemicals and exerted bioactive effects, including pro-vitamin A, antioxidant and antitumor activity. This study aimed to investigate the mutagenicity and the antimutagenicity against a standard mutagen; nitrite treated 1-aminopyrene (1-AP) of gac fruit. Method: The water extracts from unripe pulp, half-ripe pulp, fully ripe pulp and aril of gac fruit were treated with and without nitrite and investigated for their mutagenicity using Ames test with modified pre-incubation method on Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98 and TA100 without enzymatic activation. The antimutagenicity against nitrite treated 1-AP of these fruit extracts was also evaluated. Results: The results showed that none of them showed mutagenicity on both strains of S. typhimurium either with or without nitrite t...