Protective Effect of Cafestol on Doxorubicin-induced Genotoxicity in Rats

Abstract

Doxorubicin is an efficient antineoplastic agent that has a broad antitumour spectrum; however, its genotoxic adverse effects on normal cells can be produced through oxidative damage, and this limits its clinical application. Cafestol is a naturally-occurring diterpene in unfiltered coffee with noteworthy antioxidant, antimutagenic and anti-inflammatory activities. The present study aimed to investigate the possible protective effect of cafestol against doxorubicin-induced chromosomal and DNA damage in rat bone marrow cells. Forty-eight Wistar Albino rats of both sexes were divided randomly into Group I (negative control/vehicle only), Group II [cafestol-only (5mg/kg once daily by oral gavage for 14 consecutive days)], Group III [(DOX only/model) injected as a single dose 90 mg/kg intraperitoneally at day 14 to induce toxicity], and Group IV (Cafestol 5mg/kg once daily by oral gavage for 14 consecutive days then DOX was injected as a single dose 90 mg/kg intraperitoneally at day 14). The bone marrow was harvested 24 hours after doxorubicin’s injection from all groups for the assessment of structural chromosomal aberration, micronucleus, and comet assays. The result showed that rats in the doxorubicin-only group exhibited a significant decrease (P<0.05) in mitotic index with a significant elevation (P<0.05) in the % DNA in Tail, micronucleus appearance and total structural chromosomal aberrations compared to those of the negative control group; while oral administration of cafestol 14 days prior to doxorubicin, significantly-reduced the % DNA in Tail, micronucleus appearance, and the total number of chromosomal aberrations (P<0.05), and improved the mitotic index compared to rats intraperitoneally-injected with doxorubicin alone. This study revealed that cafestol has protective effects against the genotoxicity induced by doxorubicin.