Protective response of gallic acid from oxidative nuclear and mitochondrial DNA damage in HeLa cells

Abstract

Ozlem Erol, Nazli Arda, Gunhan Erdem

Objective: Oxidative DNA damages occur in the cells constantly exposed to reactive oxygen species that can originate from normal metabolic processes and from environmental agents. Accumulation of oxidative DNA damages has been observed in several pathologies, such as aging, carcinogenesis and degenerative diseases. In this study the hypothesis that gallic acid (GA), one of the most distributed phenolics in plants, could prevent the H2 O2 -induced both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) damage was investigated. Materials and Methods: The cells were pretreated with GA (28 μg/ml) for 4 h before the induction of oxidative stress by H2 O2 (300 μM) exposure for 1 h. DNA damage was assessed in the mtDNA and two nuclear regions using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay. Results: Pretreatment with GA significantly reduced both nDNA and mtDNA damages occurred with H2 O2 exposure. Conclusion: The results clearly demonstrate that GA has a protective effect against oxidative damage for both nDNA and mtDNA in HeLa cells. GA is most likely to act as an antimutagenic/anticarcinogenic agent through the protection of the genome against the damaging effect of chronic oxidative stress