Andrographolide, an Antioxidant, Counteracts Paraquat- Induced Mutagenesis in Mammalian Cells

• Main Authors: Tajai, Preechaya (Author), Suriyo, Tawit (Author), Rangkadilok, Nuchanart (Author), Fedeles, Bogdan I (Author), Essigmann, John M. (Author), Satayavivad, Jutamaad (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Environmental Health Sciences (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EpiSmart Science Vector Ltd, 2021-10-18T16:55:16Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 © This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. Paraquat (1,1'-dimethyl, 4,4'-bipyridinium dichloride; PQ), a commonly used herbicide worldwide, is both toxic and mutagenic. The mutagenic effect of PQ stems from its ability to redox-cycle, generating oxidative stress and subsequently oxidative DNA damage, which miscodes when replication is attempted. Andrographolide (AP1), the major constituent in the leaves of the herbaceous plant Andrographis paniculata, is a diterpenoid with reported antioxidant activity. The present study employed the mammalian cell line AS52 to investigate the protective effect of AP1 against PQ-induced mutagenesis. AP1 induced cytotoxicity in AS52 cells in a dose-dependent manner (IC50 = 15.7 µM), which allowed the selection of a non-lethal dose for the mutagenesis studies. While PQ was mutagenic in AS52 cells as evidenced by the increased levels of 6-TGr mutants, AP1 by itself did not increase the mutation frequency. However, co-treatment with AP1 (1-5 µM) or the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (2 mM) almost completely counteracted the mutagenicity of PQ (10-100 µM) in AS52 cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that AP1, and likely by extension, A. paniculata extracts, are effective antioxidants that can protect against PQ-induced mutations, and thus could be a promising alternative treatment for PQ poisoning.