Cytotoxic, genotoxic and mutagenic assessment of the Crataegus oxyacantha fruit extract: in vitro, in vivo, histological and ultra-structural analysis

Abstract

The industrial and technological development in general has the inevitable effect of human exposure to an increasing number of agents that, on the one hand, increase you comfort and wealth, but, on the other hand, increase a risk to their health. So, it is essential to establish standards for the use of these agents, based on studies identifying those with genetic toxicity effects, and may highlight the mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic potential. Among these agents are the plants with medicinal properties. Its use dates back centuries and the popularity of them is connected to the easy access, therapeutic efficacy, relative low cost and the idea of complete absence of toxic effects. However, recently the safety of some of these herbal compounds have been questioned, due to reports of toxicity and fatalities. Crataegus oxyacantha is a native plant from Europe, however, due to its medicinal potential, it has spread to several countries, including Brazil. Its fruits have been used as diuretics in the treatment of dyspnea and renal calculus. There are also studies showing their sedative, ancyolitic, hypolipidemic, hypocholesterolemic and anti-atherosclerotic effects. Aditionaly, several studies have produced evidence about its benefit effects on heart failure. The fruits of Crataegus has also been used as foodstuff by humans, like canned fruit, jam, jelly, drink and wine. Based on the fact that C. oxyacantha extracts have been traditionally used for medicinal purposes by humans and that there are no studies involving the investigation of the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of its fruits extract, regarding cell and genome integrity in mammalian cells, this project was designed to evaluate the cytotoxic, genotoxic mutagenic and clastogenic/aneugenic potential of this extract in vitro (using limphocytes, HepG2 human cells; and the AMES test in Salmonella) and in vivo (in different somatic and germ cells of mice) by the Comet assay and micronucleus test; Furthermore, will be analyzed the cytotoxic effects of the extract in liver cells of mice through the use of histological and ultrastructural techniques. (AU)