Environ Health Perspect. 1993 Oct;101 Suppl 3:247-52.  

Antimutagenic and mutagenic potentials of Chinese radish.

Rojanapo W, Tepsuwan A.

Biochemistry and Chemical Carcinogenesis Section, National Cancer Institute,
Bangkok, Thailand.

The edible part of fresh Chinese radish was chopped into small pieces,
lyophilized, and then extracted sequentially with hexane, chloroform, and
methanol. The solvent in each fraction was removed by evaporation under reduced
pressure at 50-55 degrees C, and the residue was dissolved in dimethylsufoxide
just before being tested for antimutagenicity as well as mutagenicity using the
Salmonella/mammalian microsome mutagenicity test. We found that none of the
three fractions exhibited any mutagenicity toward S. typhimurium strains TA98
and TA100 when tested either in the presence or absence of S-9 mix.
Interestingly, however, hexane and chloroform extracts could strongly inhibit
the mutagenicities of both direct mutagens (e.g.,
2-(2-furyl)-3-(5-nitro-2-furyl)acrylamide and sodium azide) and indirect
mutagens (e.g., aflatoxin B1). In contrast, however, these two fractions did not
inhibit the mutagenicity of benzo[a]pyrene, which is also an indirect mutagen.
Both hexane and chloroform extracts could also markedly inhibit the activities
of rat liver aniline hydroxylase and aminopyrine demethylase. The methanol
fraction could inhibit neither the mutagenicities of direct or indirect mutagens
tested nor the activities of those two rat liver enzymes. Results of the present
study demonstrate that Chinese radish may not contain any mutagenic compound but
does contain some nonpolar compounds with antimutagenic activity toward both
direct and indirect mutagens. In addition, the antimutagenic activity toward
aflatoxin B1 may be partly due to the inhibition of enzymes necessary for
activation of this mutagen.

PMID: 8143625 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]