ABSTRACT. Baccharis dracunculifolia De Candole (DC) (Asteraceae) is indigenous throughout southeastern Latin America and is used by local people in traditional medicine. This plant is known to be the source of resin for the highly valued Brazilian green propolis. As no information is available on the safety of high doses of B. dracunculifolia extract, we evaluated the mutagenic potential of high doses of this plant extract in vivo on peripheral blood cells of Swiss mice using the comet assay and the micronucleus test. The extract was administered by gavage at doses of 1000, 1500 and 2000 mg/kg body weight. Peripheral blood cell samples were collected 4 and 24 h after treatment for the comet assay (genotoxicity assay), and at 48 and 72 h for the micronucleus test (clastogenicity assay). The B. dracunculifolia extract was devoid of clastogenic/genotoxic activity at all doses.
Natural products from flora have been largely used in popular medicine for centuries. The development of tests to measure mutagenic activity of chemicals has been helpful to increase security and safety of different compounds, including natural products. The present study was carried out to evaluate the mutagenic effects of a water-ethanolic crude extract obtained from Pothomophe umbellata aerial parts on Rattus norvegicus cells in vivo, using the comet (SCGE) and micronucleus (MN) assay. Animals were treated orally with three different concentrations of the extract (500, 1000 and 1500 mg/ kg) and sacrificed 24 hours after treatments. The results have shown that the extract of P. umbellata did not induce statistically significant increases in the average numbers of DNA damage in hepatic cells and MN in bone marrow cells. However, a significant increase of DNA damage in peripheral blood cells has been noticed.
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