European Journal of Medicinal Plants

Aim: There are often no records about the potential toxicities of medicinal plants including their possible adverse maternal and perinatal effects. In this study, a number of commonly used plant-derived traditional preparations was assessed for their potential cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in a cell culture model.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out for fifteen months at the Departments of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Anton de Kom University, Paramaribo, Suriname.

Methodology: Parts from Aloe vera, Apium graveolens, Azaradichta indica, Carica papaya, Cocos nucifera, Dioscorea villosa, Eryngium foetidum, Gossypium barbadense, Momordica charantia, Musa x paradisiaca, Senna reticulata, and Spondias mombin were extracted with distilled water, freeze-dried, and stored at -20°C. The samples were evaluated in cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells for their cytotoxicity using the sulforhodamine B assay, and for their capacity to cause DNA damage using the comet assay and the micronucleus test. The latter studies were validated by establishing the DNA damage caused by etoposide and mitomycin C, respectively. Results were related to data with untreated cell samples.

Results: The extracts from A. vera, G. barbadense, M. charantia, M. paradisiaca, and S. mombin inhibited cell growth at IC₅₀ values of roughly 100 to 400 µg/mL, whereas the remaining samples were barely cytotoxic (IC₅₀ values > 1,000 µg/mL). However, only the extracts from G. barbadense and M. paradisiaca caused appreciable DNA damage in the comet assay (40 and 30%, respectively), and only the former preparation caused the formation of micronuclei (12 ± 5 per 1,000 cells).

Conclusion: The G. barbadense extract had caused both repairable and unrepaired, more permanent DNA damage and that from M. paradisiaca early, still repairable, more moderate DNA damage. Nevertheless, both preparations may cause genetic toxicity and should be used with caution, particularly by pregnant women.