Dibenzoylmethane (DBM), a structural analogue of
curcumin (a bioactive
phytochemical present in a widely used spice turmeric) was screened for its inhibitory effect against seven cooked food
mutagens (heterocyclic
amines): 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]
quinoline (IQ), 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]
quinoline (
MeIQ), 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]
quinoxaline (MeIQx), 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]
indole (Trp-P-1), 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]
indole (Trp-P-2), 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-
b]pyridine (
PhIP) and 2-amino-6-methyldipyrido[1,2-a:3',2'-d]
imidazole (Glu-P-1), in both TA98 and TA100 strains of Salmonella typhimurium using Ames Salmonella/reversion assay in the presence of Aroclor1254-induced rat liver S9 homogenate. DBM has been reported to antagonize the mutagenicity of several chemical
carcinogens in vitro and has recently been shown to be even more effective than
curcumin in suppressing the 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]
anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary
tumors in rats. But there are no reports regarding its antimutagenic properties against cooked food
mutagens. Results of the present investigations clearly indicate that
dibenzoylmethane is a very potent
antimutagenic agent, that could effectively inhibit mutagenicity induced by all the tested cooked food
mutagens in both the frame shift (TA98) as well as the base pair mutation sensitive (TA100) strains of S. typhimurium. These highly potent inhibitory effects of
dibenzoylmethane against heterocyclic
amines observed in our preliminary investigations strongly warrant further studies of its efficacy as a
cancer chemopreventive agent.