Antigenotoxic potential of curcumin and carvacrol against malathion-induced DNA damage in cultured human peripheral blood and its relation to GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphism

The aerial application of malathion, a widely used organophosphate insecticide, has raised public concerns about its potential adverse health effects. We, therefore, studied the antigenotoxic potential of curcumin and carvacrol against malathion-induced DNA damage using sister chromatid exchange (SCE) as a biomarker of genotoxicity. To observe the antigenotoxic potential of curcumin and carvacrol, heparinized fresh blood from healthy individuals was treated with 30 μg/mL of malathion in the presence of curcumin and carvacrol. Curcumin at concentrations of 25 μg/mL and 50 μg/mL had significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the frequency of SCE as compared to malathion-exposed sample. Similarly, carvacrol showed significant (p < 0.05) antigenotoxic effect at concentrations of 2.5 μg/mL and 5.0 μg/mL against malathion. We also studied the effect of GSTT1 and GSTM1 on the genotoxicity of malathion and antigenotoxic potential of curcumin and carvacrol. We observed that there is a statistically significant (p < 0.05) reduction in the frequency of SCE in case of curcumin and carvacrol as compared to malathion, but we did not observe any significant relationship (p > 0.05) between GSTT1 and GSTM1 polymorphism and the genotoxicity of malathion and antigenotoxic potential of curcumin and carvacrol.