Abstract

TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION BY IN-VITRO ASSAY OF AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF ARISTOLOCHIA GIGANTEA MART. ET ZUCC. LEAVES

Kelly Araújo Lúcio*, Sharon Santos de Lima, André Benedito da Silva, Gustavo Augusto Travassos Laranja, Natália Pereira de Almeida Nogueira, Álvaro Augusto da Costa Leitão, Marsen Garcia Pinto Coelho, Celso Luiz Salgueiro Lage and Alice Sato

.

Abstract

Aristolochia gigantea Mart. et Zucc. (Aristolochiaceae) is an ornamental herbaceous plant used in folk medicine for its abortifacient, emmenagogue, and anti-snake bite properties. This study evaluated the genotoxic and cytotoxic activities of aqueous extracts of leaves of A. gigantea, by means of the Ames test (Salmonella typhimurium strains TA97, TA98, TA100, and TA102), SOS Chromo test (Escherichia coli PQ35 and PQ37), Inductest [Escherichia coli WP2s() and RJF013] and a cytotoxicity assay using human embryo kidney epithelial cells (HEK cell line). The extracts showed no genotoxic activity, as evaluated through the bacterial test of SOS induction and cytotoxic activity on the HEK cell line. On the other hand, the extracts showed cytotoxic activity, suggesting that they contained compounds that are toxic to eukaryotic organisms but not to prokaryotic organisms.

Keywords: Aristolochia gigantea, Aristolochic acid, Genotoxicity, Cytotoxicity.