Evaluation of the mutagenicity and antimutagenicity of Ziziphus joazeiro Mart. bark in the micronucleus assay

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the mutagenicity (clastogenicity/aneugenicity) of a glycolic extract of Ziziphus joazeiro bark (GEZJ) by the micronucleus assay in mice bone marrow. Antimutagenic activity was also assessed using treatments associated with GEZJ and doxorubicin (DXR). Mice were evaluated 24–48 h after exposure to positive (N-nitroso-N-ethylurea, NEU - 50 mg.kg−1 and DXR - 5 mg.kg−1) and negative (150 mM NaCl) controls, as well as treatment with GEZJ (0.5–2 g.kg−1), GEZJ (2 g.kg−1) + NEU and GEZJ (2 g.kg−1) + DXR. There were no significant differences in the frequencies of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes in mice treated with GEJZ and GEJZ + DXR compared to the negative controls, indicating that GEZJ was not mutagenic. Analysis of the polychromatic:normochromatic erythrocyte ratio revealed significant differences in the responses to doses of 0.5 g.kg−1 and 1–2 g.kg−1 and the positive control (NEU). These results indicated no systemic toxicity and moderate toxicity at lower and higher doses of GEZJ. The lack of mutagenicity and systemic toxicity in the antimutagenic assays, especially for treatment with GEZJ + DXR, suggested that phytochemical compounds in Z. joazeiro bark attenuated DXR-induced mutagenicity and the moderate systemic toxicity of a high dose of Z. joazeiro bark (2 g.kg−1). Further studies on the genotoxicity of Z. joazeiro extracts are necessary to establish the possible health risk in humans and to determine the potential as a chemopreventive agent for therapeutic use.

Reduction of doxorubicin-induced genotoxicity by Handroanthus impetiginosus in mouse bone marrow revealed by micronucleus assay

“…The putative antioxidant activity of one or more of the active compounds of C. langsdorffii, including two major flavonoid heterosides (quercitrin and afzelin) may explain the effect of this plant on DXR-induced genotoxicity (Alves et al, 2013). More recently, the absence of genotoxicity of the tincture and two sources of oils of H. annuus was observed in the bone marrow of Swiss albinus mice using micronucleus assay, but indications of antigenotoxic effects were related to combination treatment with the tincture and DXR, suggesting a partial protective mechanism against DXR-induced genotoxic effects (Boriollo et al, 2014a). Finally, the nongenotoxicity of Z. joazeiro and its antigenotoxic effects when administered together with DXR were also related as shown by micronucleus assay in the bone marrow of Swiss albinus mice (Boriollo et al, 2014b).…”

“…In this context, recent studies indicated protective effects of extracts from Aegle marmelos (Venkatesh et al, 2007), Copaifera langsdorffii (Alves et al, 2013), Helianthus annuus (Boriollo et al, 2014a), and Ziziphus Presidente Prudente, SP, Brazil) and evaporation bottle (RV 10.85 Evaporation Flask, NS 29/32-2L, IKA  Works, Inc., USA). The final product was transferred to a reaction bottle 1 L (SCHOTT  DURAN  ) and kept at −20 °C for 24 hours in order to evaluate the freezing of the final product and the efficacy of the solvent evaporation process (Boriollo et al, 2014a, b).…”

“…For example, the effect of various concentrations of A. marmelos (Venkatesh et al, 2007), C. langsdorffii (Alves et al, 2013), H. annuus (Boriollo et al, 2014a), and Z. joazeiro (Boriollo et al, 2014b) on doxorubicin (DXR)-induced genotoxic effects in mice bone marrow was studied. The treatment of mice with A. marmelos, for consecutive days before DXR treatment, significantly reduced the frequency of DXR-induced micronuclei and increased the PCE/NCE ratio at all scoring times compared with DXR treatment alone.…”

Emerging CAM Ziziphus nummularia with in vivo sedative-hypnotic, antipyretic and analgesic attributes

“…Many of the folkloric practices have been empirically validated now. The verified health benefits include antioxidant (Olajuyigbe and Afolayan 2011 ; Chen et al 2014c ), anti-inflammation (Yu et al 2012 ), antibacterial and antifungal (Ghazghazi et al 2014 ), antiulcerogenic (Wahida et al 2007 ), immunomodulatory (Chen et al 2014a ), diabetes ameliorating (Goli-malekabadi et al 2014 ), hepatoprotective (Kwape et al 2013 ; Yue et al 2014 ), hematopoietic (Chen et al 2014b ), antimutagenic (Boriollo et al 2014 ), cytotoxic (Jafarian et al 2014 ), and sedative-hypnotic (Gao et al 2013a ). The plant parts conferring the biological effects are diverse such as leaves (Nisar et al 2007 ; Kwape et al 2013 ; Goyal et al 2013 ), fruits (Plastina et al 2012 ; Chen et al 2014a , b , c ), seeds (Cao et al 2010 ; San et al 2013 ; Gao et al 2013a ), bark (Olajuyigbe and Afolayan 2011 ; Boriollo et al 2014 ) and root (Rao et al 2012 ).…”

Study of acute genotoxic potential of an aqueous extract of Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi: an in vivo micronucleus assay

“…Due to these characteristics the micronucleus assay in rodent bone marrow has long been used in the analysis of genotoxicity for many herbal medicines, especially those of pharmaceutical interest. Highlights are the analysis of Boriollo et al [14] with Ziziphus joazeiro Martius; Mahon et al [15] with Dilodendron bipinnatum Radlk; Oliveira et al [16] with Calophyllum brasiliense; Shin et al [17] with Polygala tenuifolia and Tolentino et al [18] with Rubus niveus.…”