Anti-genotoxic and anti-oxidant effects of origanum rotundifolium on human lymphocytes in vitro

In this study, we aimed to determined the antagonistic effects of Origanum rotundifolium essential oil against the effects of Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) as and inducer of oxidative stress and genotoxic agent in human lymphocytes in vitro. Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and micronucleus (MN) tests were used for genotoxic influences estimation. In both the test systems, it was observed that O. rotundifolium essential oil suppressed the mutagenic effects of AFB(1). Biochemical parameters malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were examined to determine oxidative stress. This result showed that 5 mu M concentrations of AFB(1) malondialdehyde (MDA) level increased, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities decreased. However these effects of AFB(1) seen at higher levels decreased after treatment with 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mu L/6mL concentrations of O. rotundifolium. The results of this experiment have clearly shown that O. rotundifolium essential oil has strong anti-genotoxic effect against AFB(1) and that this capacity could be due to anti-oxidative properties.