Abstract
Duguetia furfuracea (St. Hil.) Benth & Hook f. (1862), popularly known as "sofre-do-rim-quem-quer" and "araticum-seco", is a shrub of the Annonaceae family that occurs in several regions of Brazil. In folk medicine the infusion of its leaves and twigs is used to treat rheumatism and renal colic, whereas the seed powder is mixed with water to treat pediculosis. Previous studies have described biological activities of this plant with cytotoxic, antitumoral, trypanocidal, leishmanicidal, antiplasmodial and antiprotozoal effects. In the present work, genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of Duguetia furfuracea lyophilized leaf extract were evaluated using the prophage λ induction test (SOS-Inductest) and mouse bone marrow micronucleus test. Our results showed that Duguetia furfuracea lyophilized leaf extract did not present an increase either in the induction of prophage λ (P>0.05) using the SOS-inductest or in the micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (P>0.05) using the micronucleus test, suggesting absence of genotoxicity in both tests. On the other hand, a significant decrease in the number of bacteria, (P<0.05), as well as a significant decrease in the polychromatic erythrocytes and normochromatic erythrocytes ratio, (P<0.05), were observed, showing the cytotoxic action of Duguetia furfuracea lyophilized leaf extract. Thus, Duguetia furfuracea did not present the genotoxic action, but showed a cytotoxic effect in both assays utilized in the present work.
Highlights
In the last few decades, many health claims have been made for compounds derived from vegetables, fruits and plants (Veiga Junior et al 2005)
Assessing the cytotoxicity of D. furfuracea lyophilized leaf extract (DFE), it was possible to observe a small increase in the number of survivors at the dose of 1 mg compared with the negative control group, not presenting a significant difference (P>0.05)
In the assessment of DFE genotoxicity, we noted that the dose of 1 mg increased the induction of prophage λ compared with the negative control group, but not presenting significant difference (P>0.05)
Summary
In the last few decades, many health claims have been made for compounds derived from vegetables, fruits and plants (Veiga Junior et al 2005). A large number of plants have been screened as viable sources of a variety of in folk medicine are limited (Ruiz et al 1996). Green plants in general contain mutagenic and carcinogenic substances (Pimenta and Nepomuceno 2005, Sandermann Junior 1988, Velemi’nsky’ and Gichner 1988, Kanaya et al 1992, Plewa and Wagner 1993), but there is little information on the biological effects of the compounds present in these plant species (Pimenta and Nepomuceno 2005, Basaran et al 1996). Many biological activities of this plant species were reported, such as toxicity in mice embryo (Toledo et al 2006), trypanocidal, antiplasmodial, and antiprotozoal properties (Carollo et al 2006a, Fischer et al 2004, Mesquita et al 2007)
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