Genotoxicity study of bojungchisup-tang, an oriental herbal decoction-in vitro chromosome aberration assay in Chinese hamster lung cells andin vivo supravital-staining micronucleus assay with mouse peripheral reticulocytes

Abstract

The toxicity evaluation of oriental herbal drugs is of great concern at present. Bojungchisuptang (BCST, in Korean), a decocted medicine of oriental herbal mixture, is now well used in clinic at oriental hospitals for the treatment of edema of several diseases in practice. However, the toxicity of the oriental herbal decocted medicines such as genetic toxicity is not well defined until now. In this respect, to clarify the genetic toxicity of BCST, in vitro chromosome aberration assay with Chinese hamster lung (CHL) fibroblasts and in vivo supravital micronucleus assay with mouse peripheral reticulocytes were performed in this study. In the chromosome aberration assay, we used 5,000 micrograms/ml BCST as maximum concentration because no remarkable cytotoxicity in CHL cells was observed both in the presence and absence of S-9 metabolic activation system. No statistical significant differences of chromosome aberrations were observed in CHL cells treated with 5,000, 2,500 and 1,250 micrograms/ml BCST for 6 hour both in the presence and absence of S-9 metabolic activation. However, very weak positive result (6.5-8.0% aberration) of BCST was obtained in the absence of S-9 metabolic activation system at 5,000 micrograms/ml BCST when treated for 24 hour, i.e. 1.5 normal cell cycle time. And also, in vivo clastogenicity of BCST was studied by acridine orange-supravital staining micronucleus assay using mouse peripheral reticulocytes. We used 2,000 mg/kg as the highest oral dose in this micronucleus assay because no acute oral toxicity of BCST was observed in mice. The optimum induction time of micronucleated reticulocytes (MNRETs) was determined as 36 hours after oral administration of 2,000 mg/kg BCST. No significant differences of MNRETs between control and BCST treatment groups were observed in vivo micronucleus assay. From these results, BCST revealed very weak positive result in chromosome aberration assay in vitro with CHL cells and no clastogenicity in micronucleus assay in vivo.

Study on tissue compatibility and genotoxicity of a radiation sterilized disposable burette transfusion apparatus

“…In our study we combined two tests to check for the genotoxicity and mutagenicity of the radiation sterilized disposable burette transfusion apparatus.The tests of gene mutation and chromosome aberration which directly reflect mutagenicity of toxic chemicals are reliable methods to evaluate mutagenicity of toxic chemicals [9,13,14]. The results of chromosome aberration test indicate that there was no significant difference between the different dosage groups and the negative control group(p>0.05), which meant that the samples would not cause chromosome aberration.…”

Evaluation of the genetic toxicity of synthetic chemicals (XIX) —in vivo peripheral blood reticulocytes micronucleus assay with four chemicals —

“…The experiment was performed as described by Schmid (1975) 36 with some minor modifications 26,[37][38][39][40] which are briefly summarized as follows. The test article was applied orally in three doses in volumes of 10 mL/kg.…”