The present study investigated the mutagenicity of fruit and leaf extracts of five Iranian grape cultivars and their effect on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) proliferation. The grape cultivars studied were: Bidane sefid, Shahroodi, Halvaie, Yaghoti and Ghermez yaghoti dorosht. The effect of the methanol extracts of Vitis vinifera cultivars on PBMC proliferation were measured using MTT assay at different concentrations (100, 1000, 2000, 3000 µg/ml). The mutagenicity of these extracts at two concentrations (1000, 3000 µg/ml) was also investigated on Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98. Among these five species, methanol old leaf and seed extracts strongly increased PBMC proliferation. The grape juices of all cultivars did not have any effect on PBMC proliferation. The grape juices of all species were also found to have potent mutagenicity on S. typhimurium. But skin, seed and leaf extract of all cultivars didn’t show any mutagenicity on this strain. This study provides data concerning the Immune-enhancing activity of fruit, leaf extracts of grape as well as weak mutagenic potency of grape juice.
Keywords: Grape, Lymphocyte proliferation, MTT assay, TA98, Ames test.