In Vitro antigenotoxic activities of the aqueous extract from Thai Noni's Leaves (ANL) against chemotherapeutic agent, mitomycin C

Abstract

The leaves from Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.; Rubiaceae) has been increasing popular usage as food supplement and therapeutic medicine especially in form of tea, powder and serum. Their therapeutic effects have been known for various treatments such as malaria, diabetes and topical inflammation [1]. In our previous study, we found that Noni fruit juice has some antigenotoxic effects as demonstrated by significantly decrease in the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) level induced by mitomycin C (MMC) (p<0.05) [2]. This study was focused on antigenotoxic activities of the aqueous extract from Thai Noni's leaves (ANL) against a chemotherapeutic drug, MMC. Chromosomal aberration and SCE assays in human lymphocytes in vitro were conducted. The method was performed by pretreatment of ANL at concentrations of 0.8–25mg/ml for 2h followed by MMC at 3µg/ml for 2h. Our result showed that ANL pretreatment could not significantly reduce chromosomal aberration and SCE levels induced by MMC (p<0.05). Combination usage of ANL and MMC also leads to cell cycle toxicity as shown by significantly decrease in mitotic index and proliferation index (compared to that of the negative control). We concluded that ANL pretreatment followed by MMC did not show antigenotoxic potential. However, other form of Noni's leaf extract such as ethanolic extract containing high antioxidant activities would be investigated further to verify the antigenotoxic activities.