Evaluation of mutagenicity, antimutagenicity and estrogenicity of Byrsonima species

Abstract

The Brazilian cerrado contains many popular plants used in the treatment of various diseases. The genus Byrsonima is one of them. There are several reports of its use: the treatment of fungal and bacterial infections, chronic wounds, Chagas disease, TB, as a diuretic, antiemetic, and so on. In the literature, there is evidence for activities: antioxidant, antiprotozoal, CNS depressant, anti hyperglicemics and anti hyperlipemic. The phytochemical profile shows tannins, flavonoids, triterpenes, aromatic esters, and others, which indicates the pharmacological potential of this genre. It is known that use non-standard plant can be harmful to users due to unknown properties or contain environmental contaminants. For this reason, will assess the mutagenic, antimutagenic and estrogenic activies of four species: B. verbascifolia, B. coccolobifolia, B. correifolia and B. ligustifolia. The mutagenic activity will be performed by the Ames Test, the according pre-incubation teste with and without metabolic activation. The strains used are TA98, TA97a, TA100 and TA102. Five concentrations of each sample will be tested. The antimutagenic activity is tested only for negative samples in Ames test, with the difference that will always be associated with a known mutagen. The estrogenic activity will be assessed by RYA test and uses Saccharomyces cerevisiae (BY4741 strain) genetically modified, containing a human estrogen receptor and a plasmid which expresses the enzyme ²-galactosidase of E. coli.