EVALUATION OF THE MUTAGENIC AND ANTIMUTAGENIC POTENTIAL OF AÇAI (Euterpe olereacea MART) PULP ON Swiss albinus MICE RETICULOCYT

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Juliana Carvalho Ribeiro (1), Joana D’arc Castania Darin (1), Lusânia Maria Greggi Antunes (1), Adriana Zerlotti Mercadante (2), Maria de Lourdes Pires Bianchi (1)

(1) Laboratório de Bromatologia e Nutrição, Departamento de Análises Clínicas Bromatológicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil

(2) Departamento de Ciência de Alimentos, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

Açai (Euterpe olereacea Mart.) is a native fruit from Amazonian region widely consumed by the local population in the form of juice, candy, ice cream or in nature. It is a fruit with great energy values, rich in fat, vitamin E, iron and fiber. It has an elevated antioxidant capacity due to its high content of anthocyanins and tocopherols, with protective effect against the development of coronary disease and suggests protection against the development of cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the mutagenic and antimutagenic potential of açai pulp by the micronucleus test in peripheral blood cells from Swiss albinus mice, a toxicogenetic test widely recognized by regulatory agencies. The animals were divided into eight treatment groups, being a negative control, three different concentrations of the pulp by gavage (3.33; 10.00 and 16.67 mg/kg body weight), a positive control (doxorubicin 90 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoeally) and 3 groups receive the açai pulp by gavage (3.33; 10.00 and 16.67 mg/kg body weight) and doxorubicin (90 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoeally). We collected the blood from caudal vein, 24 hours after the treatment, and the animals were submitted to euthanasia. Micronuclei were scored on Feulgen/fast-green stained. The frequency of micronucleus was verified in 2,000 reticulocytes per animal. The results were submitted to One-way analysis of variance test (ANOVA) and the Tukey-Kramer multiple comparison test. The results showed that açai pulp itself was not mutagenic. In animals treated with açai pulp and doxorubicin, the number of micronuclei was significantly decreased compared to animals receiving doxorubicin alone. In conclusion, the açai pulp demonstrated a protective effect against the chromosomal damages caused by doxorubicin at all concentrations tested in these conditions. The antimutagenic potential must be better investigated by others assays and using others conditions and we suggest the identification of anthocyanins compounds and other polyphenols in açai pulp.