Anticarcinogenicity of Flavonoids as Studied by Inhibition of Lipid Peroxidation, Microsomal Degranulation and Their Interactions with Benzo(A)Pyrene Metabolites

Summary

Plant flavonoids have been found to inhibit lipid peroxidation both in rat liver microsomes as well as a number of routinely used frozen meats. Out of the various meats studied, goat’s meat shows negligible lipid peroxidation even on storage while fish meat showed maximum lipid peroxidation. Elution profiles of rat liver microsomes over Sepharose 2B columns showed marked reduction in the degree of ribosomal detachment from the microsomes when the incubated mixtures contained various flavonoids like flavone and mint extract containing flavonoids. Studies on benzo(a)pyrene metabolites formed on incubation with homogenates of a number of rat organs employing the techniques of TLC and HPLC demonstrated that its ultimate carcinogen is majorly formed in the incubates of lung and kidney homogenates. The metabolites of benzo(a)pyrene were also isolated employing TLC after incubating this carcinogen in lung or kidney homogenates both in the presence and absence of flavonoids like flavone and catechin as well as β-carotene separately. Our results showed that many of the intermediate metabolites of benzo(a)pyrene are possibly interacting with the flavonoids and β-carotene as they do not appear on the TLC plates after incubations are made in the presence of these plant pigments.