Avaliação do Potencial Genotóxico e Mutagênico de Extratos Padronizados de Caesalpinia ferrea (jucá) e Brosimum gaudichaudii (inharé)

Abstract

The species Brosimum gaudichaudii (family Moraceae) and Caesalpinia ferrea (family Fabaceae) are widely distributed throughout Brazil and are considered medicinal plants. The extract of Brosimum gaudichaudii bark has been indicated for the treatment of skin blemishes and vitiligo. On the other hand, the extract of Caesalpinia ferrea fruit has been used due to its therapeutic properties as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and analgesic action. Much of the medicinal plant extracts constituents are unknown and may be toxic to human and animal health, so it is necessary to study the qualitative phytochemical of secondary metabolites and to evaluate the cytotoxic, genotoxic and mutagenic potential of the extracts of these species. In this study, in order to evaluate the mutagenic and / or genotoxic effects, different concentrations of the extractive solutions of B. gaudichaudii and C. ferrea were evaluated in vivo in Astyanax sp and Allium cepa, and ex vivo, by the micronucleus test in T lymphocytes humans. Data were submitted to Kruskall-Wallis a non-parametric test and then to simple linear regression with a significance level of 5%. The Allium cepa test, micronucleus test for human T lymphocytes and erythrocytes of Astyanax sp did not indicate mutagenic and / or genotoxic potential of phytochemicals (p> 0.05) when compared to the non-exposed controls, except the concentration of 5 mg/L of B. gaudichaudii that showed cytotoxicity. On the other hand, the comet assay revealed genotoxic action for all concentrations evaluated for the tail length parameter of the comet. For the moment parameter of Olive's tail only the 20mg /L concentration of Caesalpinia ferrea extract was genotoxic. Therefore, apical meristematic cells from the roots of Allium cepa and human T lymphocytes did not present genotoxic and / or mutagenic changes induced by exposure to both plant extracts detectable by micronuclei tests or mitotic index reduction. Genotoxic effect was evidenced by the tail length and tail moment parameter of Olive in the Comet Assay only for C. ferrea extract in the erythrocytes of Astyanax sp. In order to understand the genotoxic and mutagenic activities of B. gaudichaudii and C. ferrea it is important to increase the number of studies to establish safer doses for human consumption.