In the present study, coffee (CF) was evaluated for its protective effects against genotoxic damage and oxidative stress induced by the chemotherapeutic drug, cyclophosphamide (CPH). The sex-linked recessive lethal (SLRL) test was employed to study the induction of mutations in the larvae as well as in all the successive germ cell stages of treated males. Control and treated third instar larvae were used to monitor the biomarkers of oxidative stress response such as glutathione content (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and lipid peroxidation (MDA content). Our results demonstrated that co-administration of CF (2%) with CPH (3 mM) has significantly reduced CPH-induced lethal mutations in the germ cells of larvae and adult flies. The reductions observed in mutation frequencies were: 75% in larvae and 62.4% in the adult. Significant enhancement in antioxidant enzymatic levels: CAT (46.6%) > SOD (43.0%) > GST (42.4%) > GSH (31.6%) and reduction in MDA levels (32.05%) in the pretreated third instar larvae demonstrated the antioxidant activity of CF against CPH-induced oxidative stress. The findings from the present study suggest that the Drosophila model is an ideal one for evaluating the antigenotoxic and antioxidant activity of complex mixtures like CF.
Keywords: antioxidant activity; coffee; cyclophosphamide; oxidative stress; sex-linked recessive lethal test.