Antimutagenic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative activities of the juice of Vitis ficifolia var. Ganebu, a woody vine in the grape family, known as Ryukyu-ganebu in Japan

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>Mutation, inflammation, and oxidative damage including lipid-peroxidation are factors involved in the development of cancer. We investigated the antimutagenic, <jats:italic>in vivo</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative effects of the juice of <jats:italic>Vitis ficifolia</jats:italic> var. <jats:italic>ganebu</jats:italic> (known as Ryukyu-ganebu in Japan) harvested in Kuchinoshima island (hereafter, the juice is referred to as ganebu-K) in comparison with the juice of <jats:italic>Vitis coignetiae</jats:italic> (crimson glory vine, known as yamabudo in Japan; hereafter, the juice is referred to as yamabudo) which we found antimutagenic and anti-inflammatory effects.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>Ganebu-K inhibited the mutagenic activity of several carcinogens, MeIQx, IQ, Trp-P-2(NHOH), and MNNG, model compounds of tumor initiation. Using <jats:italic>S. typhimurium</jats:italic> YG7108, a strain lacking <jats:italic>O</jats:italic><jats:sup>6</jats:sup>-methylguanine DNA methyltransferases, ganebu-K showed no significant inhibition of the mutagenicity of MNNG. Thus, DNA repair of O<jats:sup>6</jats:sup>-methylguanine produced by MNNG might be an antimutagenic target of the components in ganebu-K. Topical application of ganebu-K to the dorsal sides of mice resulted in potent suppression of acute edema induced by 12-<jats:italic>O</jats:italic>-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Ganebu-K, but not yamabudo, exhibited significant inhibition of the induction of prostaglandin E<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> (PGE2) induced by TPA. Components contained in ganebu-K, but not in yamabudo, might be responsible for the inhibition of the induction of PGE2. Ganebu-K inhibited <jats:italic>in vivo</jats:italic> lipid peroxidation and decreased the level of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase induced by CCL<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> treatment.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> <jats:p>These results suggest that the active components in ganebu-K juice are not the same as those in yamabudo, and the components in ganebu-K are attractive candidates as chemopreventive agents.</jats:p> </jats:sec>