Antigenotoxic Effects of Biochaga and Dihydroquercetin (Taxifolin) on H₂O₂-Induced DNA Damage in Human Whole Blood Cells

Abstract

The health benefits of natural products have long been recognized. Consumption of dietary compounds such as supplements provides an alternative source of natural products to those obtained from the diet. There is a growing concern regarding the possible side effects of using different food supplements simultaneously, since their possible interactions are less known. For the first time, we have tested genotoxic and antigenotoxic effects of Biochaga, in combination with dihydroquercetin. No genotoxic effect on whole blood cells was observed within individual treatment of Biochaga (250 μ g/mL, 500 μ g/mL and 1000 μ g/mL) and dihydroquercetin (100 μ g/mL, 250 μ g/mL and 500 μ g/mL), nor in combination. Afterwards, antigenotoxic potency of both supplements against hydrogen peroxide- (H 2 O 2 -) induced DNA damage to whole blood cells (WBC) was assessed, using the comet assay. Biochaga and dihydroquercetin displayed a strong potential to attenuate H 2 O 2 -induced damage on DNA in cells at all tested concentrations, with a statistical significance (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.05</mml:mn></mml:math>), whereas Biochaga at the dose of 500 μ g/mL in combination with dihydroquercetin 500 μ g/mL was most prominent. Biochaga in combination with dihydroquercetin is able to protect genomic material from oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide in vitro .