Abstract
Plants of the genus Hypericum, long used in folk medicine, contain active compounds which present, anti-septic, diuretic, digestive, expectorant, vermifugal, anti-depressive and other properties. The possible clastogenic effect of a H. brasiliense extract was tested in vivo on the bone marrow cells of Wistar rats. The extract was administered by gavage at doses of 50, 150 and 300 mg/kg body weight. Experimental and control animals were submitted to euthanasia 24 h after the treatment for micronucleus (MN) and chromosome preparations. H. brasiliense extract did not induce statistically significant increases in the average numbers of MN or chromosome aberrations in the test systems employed.
Highlights
Herbs and botanical preparations are extensively used therapeutically in Brazil, the United States, India as well as other countries; in Europe they have been used for decades (Vogelzang, 2001)
Administration of H. brasiliense extract did not result in a increase in the average number of polychromatic erythrocytes with micronuclei (MNPCE) (Table 1)
Comparisons between different dose groups showed no significant differences between MNPCE mean numbers (TukeyKramer test, p 0.05)
Summary
Herbs and botanical preparations are extensively used therapeutically in Brazil, the United States, India as well as other countries; in Europe they have been used for decades (Vogelzang, 2001). Both in-vitro and in vivo tests using mouse cells and bone marrow cells from the Chinese hamster yielded negative results, giving completely no indication of the mutagenic potential of these extracts (Okpanyi et al, 1990).
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