Antimutagenic effect of heteroxylans, arabinogalactans, pectins and mannans in the Euglena assay

A series of plant cell wall polysaccharides - heteroxylans, arabinogalactans, pectins and mannans exerted antimutagenic (antibleaching) activity against acridine orange- and ofloxacin-induced mutagenicity in the Euglena assay. All polysaccharides tested exhibited a significant dose-dependent antibleaching activity and the percentage inhibition of mutagenicity ranged from 52 to 96%. It can be assumed that the antimutagenicity of the polysaccharides depends on their structural and compositional properties as well as on the different mode of action of both the mutagens tested.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]