Abstract
Although the use of medicinal plants or natural products has increased in recent decades all over the world, little information is available on their potential risk to health. Annona crassiflora Mart., a plant commonly known as araticum in Brazil, has been widely used in folk medicine for a long time since its seeds and leaves are often utilised in the treatment of cancer, snake bites, and venereal diseases, its fruits are consumed as tonic and astringent, and its bark powder has anti-fungal and anti-rheumatic properties. To evaluate the genotoxic and mutagenic properties induced by the ethanolic extract of araticum leaves, we performed the prophage λ induction (Inductest) and bacterial mutagenicity assays. We used Escherichia coli WP2s(λ) and RJF013 strains in the lysogenic induction test, whereas the mutagenic studies were carried out using Salmonella typhimurium histidine auxotroph strains TA97a, TA98, TA100, and TA102. Each experiment was performed three times in duplicate and included positive and negative controls. No statistically significant (p > 0.05) positive results were obtained for any of the strains tested, which suggests that the ethanolic extract of araticum leaves did not exhibit direct mechanisms of genotoxicity or mutagenicity that could be detected by the tests used in the present work.
Highlights
60% of the world’s population relies almost entirely on plants for medication and natural products have long been recognised as an important source of therapeutically effective medicines (Harvey, 2000)
The survival fraction (SF) showed a potent action of ethanolic extract of araticum (EEA) doses on cellular inactivation, starting at 500 μg/plate (Table 1), with an average survival of 64%, which decreased to 56% and 17% at 1000 μg/plate and 2000 μg/plate, respectively
We observed a similar profile in relation to the frequency of His+ revertants for all tested strains (TA97a, TA98, TA100, and TA102) since no statistically significant difference was found between each negative control group and any doses of EEA (p > 0.05); we detected a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the negative control groups and the treatment doses of EEA in contrast with each positive control, as expected
Summary
60% of the world’s population relies almost entirely on plants for medication and natural products have long been recognised as an important source of therapeutically effective medicines (Harvey, 2000). A lot of what is considered alternative medicine nowadays, not too long ago constituted the only available treatment for many diseases. This could be one of the reasons why people believe that natural products are “good” and synthetic ones are “dangerous” (Schmitt et al, 2003). The frequent use of medicinal plants has been correlated with a high incidence of tumors in the population. The proportion of tumors attributed to the use of dietetic compounds, infections, and natural carcinogens is much higher than that caused by environmental and chemical agents (Fonseca et al, 1994)
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