The effect on chromosomal stability of some dietary constituents

When food is heated, a vast number of compounds are formed. Some of these are known to be toxic. Among these are furan, HMF, PhIP, IQ, and MeIQx, the subjects of this thesis. All these compounds are known or suspected carcinogens but the detailed mechanisms behind their carcinogenicity have not yet been fully examined. The aim of this thesis was to study genotoxic properties of these compounds using both in vitro and in vivo methods. Clastogenic effects of all five compounds were assessed with the flow cytometer-based micronucleus assay in vivo and for furan also with the micronucleus assay in vitro. DNA-damaging effects of HMF were studied using the comet assay. No induction of micronuclei was obtained after exposure to IQ, MeIQx or furan. Hence, it can be argued that non-genotoxic mechanisms are partly responsible for the carcinogenic properties of these compounds. PhIP, on the other hand, generated a clear response in the in vivo test. Comparing these result with previous results on acrylamide indicates that PhIP is much more potent. However, acrylamide probably poses a higher risk for humans as the intake is considerably higher. For HMF no effects were seen using the in vivo setup. To further investigate the influence of bioactivation of HMF by sulfotransferases (SULTs) the comet assay was performed in cell lines expressing different levels of SULT. However, no correlation between SULT-expression and DNA-damage was observed. Thus, the DNA-damaging effects found in our experimental setup is probably due to other factors than SULT mediated effects. Furthermore, in this thesis the effects of folic acid on chromosomal stability in healthy people were studied. A negative correlation was found between micronucleus frequency and folate status. The results gained within this thesis will hopefully contribute to the risk assessment of compounds present in our diet