title: Fruit extract of the medicinal plant Crataegus oxyacantha exerts genotoxic and mutagenic effects in cultured cells.
abstract: Crataegus oxyacantha, a plant of the Rosaceae family also known "English hawthorn, haw, maybush, or whitethorn," has long been used for medicinal purposes such as digestive disorders, hyperlipidemia, dyspnea, inducing diuresis, and preventing kidney stones. However, the predominant use of this plant has been to treat cardiovascular disorders. Due to a lack of studies on the genotoxicity of C. oxyacantha, this investigation was undertaken to determine whether its fruit extract exerts cytotoxic, genotoxic, or clastogenic/aneugenic effects in leukocytes and HepG2 (liver hepatocellular carcinoma) cultured human cells, or mutagenic effects in TA100 and TA98 strains of Salmonella typhimurium bacterium. Genotoxicity analysis showed that the extract produced no marked genotoxic effects at concentrations of 2.5 or 5 µg/ml in either cell type; however, at concentrations of 10 µg/ml or higher significant DNA damage was detected. The micronucleus test also demonstrated that concentrations of 10 µg/ml or higher produced clastogenic/aneugenic responses. In the Ames test, the extract induced mutagenic effects in TA98 strain of S. typhimurium with metabolic activation at all tested concentrations (2.5 to 500 µg/ml). Data indicate that, under certain experimental conditions, the fruit extract of C. oxyacantha exerts genotoxic and clastogenic/aneugenic effects in cultured human cells, and with metabolism mutagenicity occurs in bacteria cells.
authors.affiliation: a Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - Instituto de Biociências, Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Geral e Aplicada , Botucatu , SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Paula Oliveira
authors.initials: APO
authors.lastname: de Quadros
authors.affiliation: b Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - Instituto de Biociências , Departamento de Biologia , Rio Claro , SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Dania Elisa Christofoletti
authors.initials: DEC
authors.lastname: Mazzeo
authors.affiliation: b Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - Instituto de Biociências , Departamento de Biologia , Rio Claro , SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Aparecida
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Marin-Morales
authors.affiliation: c Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP - Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas , Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra , Diadema , SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Fábio Ferreira
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Perazzo
authors.affiliation: d Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP - Faculdade de Ciências Médicas , Campinas , SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulo Cesar Pires
authors.initials: PCP
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.affiliation: a Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - Instituto de Biociências, Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Geral e Aplicada , Botucatu , SP , Brazil.|e Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP - Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências , Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Marilia , SP , Brazil.
authors.forename: Edson Luis
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Maistro
mesh_terms: D020552:Comet Assay; D027825:Crataegus / Q000737:chemistry*; D004249:DNA Damage; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000633:toxicity; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts