Abstract
Flavonoids constitute a group of polyphenolic compounds characterized by a common gamma-benzo- pyrone structure considered in numerous biological systems to possess antioxidant capacity. Among the different applications of flavonoids, its genoprotective capacity against damage induced by ionizing radiation stands out, which has been related to antioxidant activity and its chemical structure. In this study, we determined the frequency of appearance of micronucleus in vivo by means of the micronucleus assay. This was conducted in mice treated with different flavonoids before and after exposure to 470 mGy X-rays; thereafter, their bone marrow polychromatophilic erythrocytes were evaluated to establish the structural factors enhancing the observed genoprotective effect. Our results in vivo show that the presence of a monomeric flavan-3-ol type structure, with absence of carbonyl group in position C4 of ring C, absence of conjugation between the carbons bearing the C2 = C3 double bond and the said ring, presence of a catechol group in ring B and characteristic hydroxylation in positions 5 and 7 of ring A are the structural characteristics that determine the highest degree of genoprotection. Additionally, a certain degree of polymerization of this flavonoid monomer, but maintaining significant levels of monomers and dimers, contributes to increasing the degree of genoprotection in the animals studied at both times of their administration (before and after exposure to X-rays).
Highlights
Flavonoids are a widely extended group of polyphenolic compounds characterized by having a common benzo-γ-pyrone structure that has been associated with antioxidant capacity in different biological systems [1,2,3,4]
Ditions used for this study permitted the estimation of radiation dose as a function of the Conditions used for this study permitted the estimation of radiation dose as a function of number of micronuclei (MN) formed in the bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes the number of micronuclei (MN) formed in the bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes (Figure 2)
To estimate the dose reduction factors (DRF), the radiation dose necessary to produce a certain number of micronuclei was obtained from the equation of micronuclei was obtained from the equation
Summary
Flavonoids are a widely extended group of polyphenolic compounds characterized by having a common benzo-γ-pyrone structure that has been associated with antioxidant capacity in different biological systems [1,2,3,4]. Flavonoid synthesis seems to be associated with lignification processes in leaves and logs and with ultraviolet light processes in flowers [8,9], as well as with different types of stress, especially induced through fungal and microbial infections, currently being considered as part of the immune system of plants [10,11,12,13,14] These compounds play important physiological and ecological roles in plants, they possess important commercial value due to their multiple applications in the agro-food and pharmaceutical industries [4,6,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. Some studies have related these effects to the chemical structure of flavonoids, describing that their antioxidant activities, enzyme inhibition or antineoplastic capacities depend on small variations in their basic chemical structure [5,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39]
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