Abstract
The Casearia species (Salicaceae) occur in the tropics and subtropics and their extracts are rich in clerodane-type diterpenes, known as casearins. According to the literature, extracts from Casearia sylvestris exhibit cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in different tumor cell lines, possibly related to the casearins. On the other hand, there are few studies related to the DNA damages of the essential oils from this species. This study is aimed at evaluating DNA damages promoted by the essential oil from leaves of C. sylvestris collected in Rio de Janeiro. The essential oil was obtained from fresh leaves (1.5 kg) by hydrodistillation for 2 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus, and analyzed both by gas chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and gas chromatography coupled to a flame ionization detector (GC-FID). These analyses revealed a very diversified (n = 21 compounds) volatile fraction composed mainly of non-oxygenated sesquiterpenes (72.1%), and the major component was identified as α-humulene (17.8%). Genotoxicity was evaluated by the comet assay, showing DNA damages, mainly of classes 3 and 4 at 4.0 µg/ml (p < 0.05) according to the damage index (DI). This is the first demonstration of DNA damages in response to the essential oil of C. sylvestris. Key words: A549, α-humulene, comet assay, sesquiterpenes.
Highlights
Casearia sylvestris Sw. (Salicaceae) can be found throughout the Brazilian territory, including the State of Rio de Janeiro (Marquete and Vaz, 2007; Marquete and Mansano, 2013), and is popularly known as "guaçatonga"
Recent studies reported that the essential oils of Casearia genus are rich in sesquiterpenes, while monoterpenes are rare and arylpropanoids are absent (Esteves et al, 2005; Tininis et al, 2006; Sousa et al, 2007; Silva et al, 2008)
The sesquiterpenes showed cytotoxic activity against different tumor cell lines (Silva et al, 2008; Bou et al, 2013) as well as genotoxic effects (Péres et al, 2009; Maistro et al, 2010; Ortiz et al, 2016). This species is widely used by the Brazilian population, possible genotoxic effects promoted by the essential oil from leaves have not been investigated so far
Summary
Casearia sylvestris Sw. (Salicaceae) can be found throughout the Brazilian territory, including the State of Rio de Janeiro (Marquete and Vaz, 2007; Marquete and Mansano, 2013), and is popularly known as "guaçatonga". It is one of the 71 plants of interest of the Brazilian Public Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS)), due to its wide use by the population to treat different conditions, such as herpes and tumors (Pereira et al, 2016; Ferreira et al, 2016). The sesquiterpenes showed cytotoxic activity against different tumor cell lines (Silva et al, 2008; Bou et al, 2013) as well as genotoxic effects (Péres et al, 2009; Maistro et al, 2010; Ortiz et al, 2016) This species is widely used by the Brazilian population, possible genotoxic effects promoted by the essential oil from leaves have not been investigated so far
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