Genotoxic Activity of Secondary Metabolites of Teucrium Species

Abstract

Teucrium species have been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of different diseases and for this reason, it is very important to know their effect on the human genome. In this chapter are presented literature data of genotoxic potential of secondary metabolites (phenolic acids and flavonoids) and different extracts from Teucrium species using different valid methods for the detection of genotoxicity. The presented results of investigating the genotoxic effect of methanolic extracts from Teucrium chamaedrys, T. montanum, T. scordium, T. arduini and T. flavum, methanolic, ethanolic, and aqueous extracts from Teucrium polium, as well as methanolic, ethanolic and chloroform extracts from Teucrium ramosissimum using micronucleus assay in human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs), Comet assay in PBLs, Ames test/Salmonella typhimurium. It is known that the biological activities of the herbal extracts associated with its phytochemical composition. Phytochemical analyses of examined extracts of Teucrium species showed that they were rich in polyphenolic compounds and could be considered responsible for antimutagenic properties of the plants. Presented results have shown that the investigated of the Teucrium species possess the protective properties against antineoplastic drug-induced genetic damage in a different type of cells. There are two possible genoprotective effects, antimutagenic/antioxidative (Teucrium polium and T. ramosissimum) and proapoptotic (Teucrium chamaedrys, T. montanum, T. scordium, T. arduini and T. flavum). The investigated Teucrium species showed a genotoxic effect in high concentrations, while in combination with known mutagenic in the same concentrations had a protective effect. Presented investigations from different genotoxicity studies have showed that secondary metabolites have a genoprotective effect on different types of cells (PBLs, mice bone marrow cells, PCEs; Chinese hamster ovary cells, CHO; bacteria Salmonella typhimurium). Moreover, present results clearly showed that tested extracts Teucrium species had a protective effect on the genotoxicity of different agents (mitomycin C, MMC; N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, MNNG; benzo[a] pyrene, B[a]P; aflatoxin B1, AFB1; hydrogen peroxide, H2O2) in a different type of cells in vitro and, therefore, they can be a potential source of new pharmaceutics that will have a significant protective effect on induced genetic damage by chemotherapeutics in healthy cells.