Natural two Taraxacum species effective against frame shift and base pair substitution mutations: mutagenic, antimutagenic and antioxidant evaluation

Abstract

Plant or plant products have gained increasing importance in recent years due to their lower toxicity and side effects in pharmacology and food industries. The genus Taraxacum have been used as traditional medicine since ancient times. In this study, antioxidant, mutagenic and antimutagenic properties of two Taraxacum species namely T. mirabile and T. farinosum were investigated. Antioxidant properties were determined by different test systems including DPPH radical scavenging, reducing power (CUPRAC and FRAP assays) and phosphomolybdenum assays. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were also reported. Mutagenic and anti-mutagenic activities were tested by Ames assay. It was seen that Taraxacum species have moderate antioxidant and antimutagenic activities ranging between moderate to strong. However, the species were found to be non-mutagenic. It was determined that total phenolic and flavonoid contents in T. mirabile (23.43 mgGAE/g extract and 4.58 mgRE/g extract) was higher than T. farinosum (17.54 mgGAE/g extract and 3.37 mgRE/g extract). According to our results, the Taraxacum species could be considered as a source of natural agents in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical areas.