ANTIMUTAGENIC ACTIVITY OF D-LIMONENE

Abstract

D-Limonene is a monoterpene abundantly present in citrus fruits with excellent medicinal properties. Limonene act on many cellular targets in cancer cells with known chemopreventive activity. Limonene is shown to prevent the growth of many cancer types in preclinical cancer models. The aim is to determine the antimutagenic activity of limonene in bacterial reverse mutation test and in vivo micronucleus test. In bacterial reverse mutation test, a combination of limonene with known mutagens exhibited a strong reduction in the number of revertant colonies compared to mutagen alone. Reduction was observed both in the presence and absence of metabolic activation. In micronucleus test a significant reduction in % micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes was noticed in test animals (limonene + mitomycin C) compared to positive control animals (mitomycin C). Current studies show the significant antimutagenic activity of limonene which might be the rationale for its well known chemopreventive / anticancer activity