A study of the genotoxic potential of flavonoids using short-term bacterial assays.

Genotoxic activities of flavonoids (quercetin, rhamnetin, isorhamnetin, apigenin, luteolin) were investigated using two short-term bacterial assays. In the "repair test" in Salmonella typhimurium (strains TA1538 uvrB- and TA1978 uvrB+) the flavonoids studied did not introduce any damage into the DNA recognized by UvrABC nuclease (correndonuclease II). The results of the SOS-Chromotest in Escherichia coli K-12 strains PQ37 (tag+, alk+) and PQ243 (tagA, alkA) indicated that flavonoids only weakly induced the SOS system. The addition of a liver activation system (S9 mix) did not increase the mutagenic effect of the flavonoids tested. Two compounds: rhamnetin, isorhamnetin and their putative metabolites formed in the presence of the S9 mix did not alkylate DNA at N-3 of adenine.