Baccharin Prevents Genotoxic Effects Induced by Methyl Methanesulfonate and Hydrogen Peroxide in V79 Cells

Abstract

Baccharin is one of the major chemical compounds isolated from the aerial parts of Baccharis dracunculifolia DC (Asteraceae), a native plant of South America and the most important botanical source of the Brazilian green propolis that has been used in alternative medicine to treat inflammation, liver disorders, and stomach ulcers. The present study was carried out in V79 cells to determine the possible genotoxic and antigenotoxic activities of baccharin utilizing comet and micronucleus assays, where 2 known mutagenic agents with different mechanisms of DNA damage were used as positive controls. The V79 cells were treated with concentrations of baccharin (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 μg/mL) and for to investigate the antigenotoxicity these concentrations were associated with methyl methanesulfonate (MMS; 200 μM-comet assay and 400 μM-micronucleus assay) or hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2;) 50 μM-comet assay and 100 μM-micronucleus assay). Statistically significant differences in the rate of DNA damage were observed in cultures treated with the highest concentration of baccharin when compared to the control group, but this difference was not found in the micronucleus assay. The results also showed that the frequencies of DNA damage and micronuclei induced by MMS and H(2)O(2) were significantly reduced after treatment with baccharin. The baccharin showed a chemoprevention effect and can be the chemical compound responsible for the antigenotoxicity also demonstrated by the B. dracunculifolia. The antioxidant potential of baccharin may be related to its chemoprevention activity induced against both genomic and chromosomal damages.

Evidence of Some Natural Products with Antigenotoxic Effects. Part 2: Plants, Vegetables, and Natural Resin

“…With these results, baccharin can be considered a chemopreventive agent, whose possible antioxidant effect was responsible for reducing the genomic and chromosomal damages. Likewise, this chemical compound was also responsible for the antigenotoxicity also demonstrated by Baccharis dracunculifolia ; the most important plant source of Brazilian green propolis [201,202,203].…”

Effects of copaene, a tricyclic sesquiterpene, on human lymphocytes cells in vitro

“…Likewise, it was reported that zerumbone (a phytochemical sesquiterpene) from a type of edible ginger did not induce genotoxicity in cultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes (Al-Zubairi et al 2010). Moreover, baccharin (a kind of sesquiterpene that was isolated from the aerial parts of Baccharis dracunculifolia) treatment led to significant increases of DNA damages (by comet test) in Chinese hamster lung V79 fibroblast cells, but this difference was not found in the MN assay (de Oliveira et al 2012). On the other hand, recent studies reported that gossypol and ptaquiloside (a norsesquiterpene) were found to be genotoxic in human lymphocyte cells by using SCE assay (Best and McKenzie 1988;Gil da Costa et al 2012).…”

Chemopreventive compounds from plant derived food and their bioactivity

“…70 Rosmarinic acid, the major phenolic compounds of Salvia sp protected Caco-2 and HeLa cells against genotoxicity of hydrogen peroxide and increased DNA repair activity in Caco-2 cells. 71 Baccharin, the bioactive compounds isolated from the aerial parts of Baccharis dracunculifolia inhibits the genotoxic effects of methyl methane sulfonate and hydrogen peroxide in V79 cells. 72 Carnosol, a regular constituent of Rosmarinus officinalis, is a phenolic diterpene.…”