Suppressive effects of selected antioxidants on the activated leukocytes-induced mutagenesis in the co-culture assay systems.

We recently established a novel co-culture assay system using activated inflammatory cells and AS52 Chinese hamster ovary cells, and demonstrated that reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) generated from activated inflammatory leukocytes induce mutations in the gpt recorder gene in AS52 cells. In this study, we examined the inhibitory effects of 19 agents with antioxidative properties on RONS generation in cultured inflammatory cells and on mutagenesis in AS52 cells co-cultured with activated inflammatory cells. The results demonstrate that there is a linear correlation between the ability of these agents to suppress RONS production in activated inflammatory cells and to inhibit mutation in AS52 cells.