Abrogation of methyl methanesulphonate (MMS)-induced cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of tropical fruit juice mixture on fibroblast cells

Tropical fruit juice mixture consisting of pomegranate, guava, and roselle has been proven to possess high polyphenolic composition and antioxidant capacity. The present work aimed to evaluate the cytoprotective and antigenotoxic potentials of juice mixture in methyl methanesulphonate (MMS)-induced V79 Chinese hamster lung fibroblast cell line. MTT assay showed that the IC50 value of the juice mixture was 193.33 ± 46.40 µg/mL. Cells pretreated with 6, 12, and 25 µg/mL juice mixture showed significant increment in viability (p < 0.05) following induction with MMS. However, only cells co-treated with 6 and 12 µg/mL juice mixture showed protective effect (p < 0.05) against MMS-induced cytotoxicity under the co-treatment setting. Comet assay showed that the tail moment and percentage of DNA in tail in cells pretreated with the juice mixture significantly decreased compared with those in positive control groups. However, under the co-treatment setting, only 12 µg/mL juice mixture showed significant reduction (p < 0.05) in tail moment compared with MMS alone. In conclusion, the tropical fruit juice mixture can abrogate and protect cells from the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of MMS, and has the potential to be developed as beneficial formulation for health preservation.