Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC. essential oil: genotoxicity, mutagenicity and metabolism studies

Abstract

We live in an aerobic environment so all organisms stay continuously and inevitably exposed to reactive oxygen and/or nitrogen species, which could react with lipid from membranes, intracellular proteins and DNA, damaging these structures and therefore are related to the genesis of a number of chronic diseases, such as cancer. On the other hand, many chronic parasitic diseases such as schistosomiasis, are classified as neglected tropical diseases, possessing just few therapeutic option which results in increasing emergence of resistant strains. Thus, natural products constitute an important source of therapeutic alternatives for parasitosis and chronic diseases treatments, besides can also be used in preventing various diseases through different mechanisms of action, such as immunomodulation and antioxidant capacity. "Carqueja", Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC. (Asteraceae), is a native species from tropical regions and has been widely used in folk medicine as anti-inflammatory, to treat worms, liver and kidney problems as well as stomach and intestinal disorders. Recent studies of B. trimera essential oil (EO) demonstrated potential schistosomicidal activity on adult worms of Schistosoma mansoni (BH strain). Since B. trimera EO presents potential medicinal uses, this project aims to further evaluate the antimutagenic activity / mutagenic in vitro EO and its major compounds using the comet assay and micronucleus induction model, with optical microscopy and flow cytometry analysis, associated with EO phytochemical study and preliminary evaluation of in vitro metabolism, in order to correlate chemical composition with the observed activities. Thus, this study will contribute to the establishment of the safety of the medicinal use of B. trimera EO.