Inhibition of the Mutagenic Effects of Sulfatiazole-nitrite Mixture by L-ascorbic Acid and Green Tea

INTRODUCTION The concept of chemoprevention (use of natural or synthetic compounds to prevent cancers) has great appeal. N-nitroso compounds are mutagens which can be formed in vivo due to the reaction between amides and/or amines with nitrite (1). L-ascorbic acid (asc.) and green tea polyphenols can react with nitrite diminishing or removing the nitrosation risk. Sulfonamides, widely used by their properties, present potential risk of nitrosation in stomach because the presence of these functions. In the present work we assay the chemopreventive action of asc. and green tea as antimutagens (AM) on the mutagenicity of a reaction mixture (RM) formed by sodium sulfathiazole (NaST) and NaNO2 in acidic medium, whose mutagenicity was previously proved by us (2).