Genotoxic and cytotoxic potential of Alternanthera Bettzickiana, an important ethno-medicinal plant

Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2017 Aug 30;63(8):109-114. doi: 10.14715/cmb/2017.63.8.23. Akhtar MF1, Sharif A2, Saleem M1, Saleem A1, Akhtar B3, Raza M2, Ijaz H4, Shabbir M2, Ali S5, Sharif A4, Nasim MB2, Peerzada S2. Author information 1 Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 2 Department of Pharmacy, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan. 3 Institute of Pharmacy, Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 4 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan. 5 Institute für pharmazeutische Technologie & Biopharmazie, Philipps University Marburg, Germany. Abstract The present study was carried out to investigate the mutagenic and cytotoxic potential of n-hexane and aqueous-methanolic whole plant extracts of Alternanthera bettzickiana. Aqueous-methanolic and n-hexane extracts of Alternanthera bettzickiana extracts were assessed for the mutagenic potential with Salmonella tester strains TA-100 and TA-102 in the presence and absence of the rodent enzyme activation system and cytotoxic potential was assessed by MTT assay. Aqueous-methanolic extract showed the presence of saponins, tannins, terpenoids, flavonoids and glycosides. However n-hexane extract revealed the presence of tannins and terpenoids only. It was found that a concentration as low as 15mg/mL of both extracts was more mutagenic to the TA 102 tester strain than TA-100. Hexane whole plant extract of Altenanthera bettzickiana was more mutagenic than aqueous-methanolic extract considering revertant colonies of TA 100 strain. Aqueous-methanolic and n-hexane whole plant extracts of Altenanthera bettzickiana showed higher mutagenic potential in the presence of the enzyme activation system. Mutagenicity of aqueous-methanolic extract increased with an enzyme activation system in case of TA 100 whereas mutagenicity of n-hexane extract decreased in the presence of the enzyme activation system with TA 100 and TA 102 strains. Aqueous-methanolic and n-Hexane whole plant extracts of Alternanthera bettzickiana showed an IC-50 of 493 and 456 µg/mL in BHK-21 cells respectively. It can be concluded that Altenanthera bettzickiana exhibited mutagenic activity in a bacterial reverse mutation assay with and without enzyme activation systems. However, it showed limited cytotoxicity to BHK-21 cells. KEYWORDS: Cytotoxicity; Ethno-pharmacology.; Medicinal plants; Mutagenicity; Phytochemicals