Abstract: BACKGROUND ＆ AIM: To detect and evaluate the antimutagenicity of puerarin by TK gene mutation test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The TK6 human lymphoid cells were exposed to puerarin at concentrations of 25,50, 100 μg/ml with 5 μg/ml MMS, 0.1％ DMSO, 5 μg/ml MMS and 5 μg/ml MMS＋100 μg/ml VitC using simultaneous treatment to determine PE0, PE3, RSG and TMF. RESULTS:Puerarin at concentration 100 μg/ml significantly decreased the TMF induced by MMS. CONCLUSION: Under this experimental condition，puerarin inhibited TK gene mutation on TK6 cell induced by MMS at higher concentration, and has good potential for further development and application.

Key words: TK gene mutation assay, TK6 cell, puerarin, antimutagenesis