Antigenotoxicity of coffee in the Drosophila assay for somatic mutation and recombination

The somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster was carried out to investigate whether or not coffee can modulate the genotoxicity of the well-established mutagenic/carcinogenic chemicals cyclophosphamide (CPH), diethylnitrosamine (DEN), mitomycin C (MMC), procarbazine (PRO) and urethane (URE). For this purpose, 3-day-old larvae, trans-heterozygous for the wing hair markers mwh (multiple wing hairs) and flr3 (flare3), were raised on instant medium containing either the genotoxin alone or in combination with instant coffee. From the results obtained, it was evident that the chronic co-administration of coffee was effective in significantly reducing the frequencies of single and twin spots induced by CPH, DEN, MMC and URE but not PRO. The maximum reduction was observed in the frequencies of twin spots (produced by mitotic recombination) after feeding larvae on medium containing coffee in combination with the compounds CPH or URE.