title: Genotoxicity induced by Eugenia caryophyllata infusion.
abstract: Several therapeutic properties have been described for Eugenia caryophyllata (clove). In the present study the infusion of E. caryophyllata was evaluated in a series of bacterial and cell-free assays in order to determine genotoxic potential. Negative results were obtained in the SOS chromotest and in the Salmonella reversion assay using strains TA97a, TA98, TA100, and TA102. However, in a forward mutagenesis assay an increase in mutagenesis and high cytotoxicity was observed with the CC104 mutMmutY strain, suggesting that oxidative DNA damage occurred. The treatment of plasmid with clove infusion showed that DNA strand breaks and sites recognized by formamidopyrimidine-DNA-glycosylase (FPG/MutM) were generated. Data suggest that the occurrence of oxidative DNA damage, with low mutagenic potential, may also be involved in the cytotoxicity attributed to clove infusion.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia Celular e Genética, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrícia Estevam
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Lucila Carmem Monte
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Egito
authors.forename: Sílvia Regina Batistuzzo
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: de Medeiros
authors.forename: Lucymara Fassarella
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Agnez-Lima
mesh_terms: D001628:Beverages / Q000633:toxicity*; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000187:drug effects*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests / Q000379:methods; D009153:Mutagens / Q000032:analysis; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000633:toxicity*; D012475:Salmonella / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D027842:Syzygium / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens; D010936:Plant Extracts