title: Mutagenic potential and modulatory effects of the medicinal plant Luehea divaricata (Malvaceae) in somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster: SMART/wing.
abstract: Luehea divaricata is a native plant of the Brazilian Cerrado, known as "açoita-cavalo". It is used as a popular herbal medicine in the treatment of dysentery, bleeding, arthritis, tumors, ulcers, and gangrenous wounds. Considering that herbal medicines sometimes provoke tumors and/or may prevent mutational events, it is important to study the action of these natural drugs on DNA. Aqueous extract of the bark of L. divaricata was evaluated at three different concentrations (0.10, 0.30, 0.50 mg/mL), individually and in combination with the neoplastic drug doxorubicin (DXR), by the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART/wing) in Drosophila melanogaster. Distilled water was included as a negative control. The mutation frequency in the treatments with L. divaricata extract alone was not significantly higher than in the negative control for standard (ST) and high bioactivation (HB) crosses. When L. divaricata extract was combined with DXR, there was a significant reduction in the frequency of spots when compared to DXR alone, in both crosses. Further studies with other experimental models would be useful to confirm that L. divaricata extract is not harmful and that it could be used in the prevention of cancer.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brasil. lpfelicio@hotmail.com
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Felício
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: I L B F
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: D C S
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Passos
authors.forename: A K S
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Vale
authors.forename: D C S
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: W B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Nunes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000494:pharmacology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D019660:Malvaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens / Q000633:toxicity*; D009154:Mutation / Q000187:drug effects; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000633:toxicity*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000633:toxicity*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens; D010936:Plant Extracts; D004317:Doxorubicin