STUDIES ON THE GENOTOXIC PROPERTIES OF FOUR BENZYL DERIVATIVES IN THE IN VIVO COMET ASSAY USING HAEMOCYTES OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

摘要

This study presents the first application of an in vivo alkaline comet assay using haemocytes in the haemolymph of Drosophila melanogaster larvae for the genotoxic evaluation of benzyl derivatives. Haemocytes are playing a function similar to mammalian blood. In this study, different concentrations (5, 10, 25 and 50 mM) of benzyl alcohol, benzyl acetate, benzaldehyde and benzoic acid used as flavour ingredients were investigated for genotoxicity as in vivo. Haemolymph was extracted from the larvae, and haemocytes were isolated by centrifugation and used in the comet assay. In the comet assay with haemocytes for benzyl derivatives observed significantly and dose-dependently induced DNA damage formation. The highest concentration of each tested benzyl derivative was significantly induced DNA damage. Their genotoxic potencies according to the induced % DNA tail in the highest concentration are as follows: benzyl acetate (35.51 ± 0.31), benzyl alcohol (34.87 ± 2.01), benzaldehyde (33.27 ± 0.95) and benzoic acid (28.21 ± 0.31). These results confirm the benefit of the comet assay with haemocytes as an in vivo model and support the possibility that there is a genotoxic risk associated with benzyl derivatives exposure.