Antigenotoxic properties of Terminalia arjuna bark extracts.

Compounds possessing antimutagenic properties (polyphenols, tannins, vitamins, etc.) have been identified in fruits, vegetables, spices, and medicinal plants. Terminalia arjuna (Combretaceae), a tropical woody tree occurring throughout India and known locally as Kumbuk, is a medicinal plant rich in tannins and triterpenes that is used extensively in Ayurvedic medicine as a cardiac tonic. The aim of the present collaborative work was to test six solvent extracts from the bark of Terminalia arjuna for antigenotoxic activity using in vitro short-term tests. Terminalia arjuna extracts were obtained by sequential extraction using acetone, methanol, methanol + HCl, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and ethyl ether. The antigenotoxic properties of these extracts were investigated by assessing the inhibition of genotoxicity of the directacting mutagen 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide (4NQO) using the "comet" assay and the micronucleus (MN) test. Human peripheral blood leukocytes were incubated with different concentrations of the six extracts (from 5 to 100 microg/ mL) and with 4NQO (1 and 2 microg/mL, for the "comet" assay and MN test, respectively). Each extract/4NQO combination was tested twice; in each experiment, positive control (4NQO alone) and negative control (1% DMSO) were set. "Comet" assay results showed that acetone and methanol extracts were highly effective in reducing the DNA damage caused by 4NQO, whereas the acidic methanol, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and ethyl ether extracts showed less marked or no antigenotoxic activity. In the MN test, a decrease in 4NQO genotoxicity was observed by testing this mutagen in the presence of acetone, methanol, chloroform, and ethyl acetate extracts, even though the extent of inhibition was not always statistically significant.

Urine mutagenicity and biochemical parameters as markers of exposure to petroleum pitch using a rat model.

A petroleum pitch sample collected in a carbon electrode factory was studied using a series of in vivo assays for genotoxicity and enzymatic induction capability. Rats were treated with the petroleum derivative in three doses: 100, 50, and 10 mg/kg body weight. The treatment produced a rapid excretion of mutagenic substances in the urines of the first 24 hr only in rats treated with high doses (100 and 50 mg/kg). No faecal mutagenic activity was observed. Analyses of urinary thioethers showed that urinary metabolites derived from the compounds present in the pitch-sample at the lowest dose-administered (10 mg/kg) were eliminated primarily as cysteine conjugates. The pitch sample was found to be a good inducer of pulmonary and hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase, especially after a 50 mg/kg dose. Urinary D-glucaric acid content was always statistically increased in treated animals compared with controls, confirming the enzymatic induction activity. Hepatic glutathione-S-transferase activity increased following treatment with 50 and 10 mg/kg doses.