Terminalia arjuna, a herbal remedy against environmental carcinogenicity: An in vitro and in vivo study

Medicinal plants have been a major source of therapeutic agents from ancient times to cure diseases. The evaluation of rich heritage of traditional medicine is essential. The bark of Terminalia arjuna is rich in polyphenols [60-70%] including flavonoids and tannins. The aim of the present investigation is to highlight the anticarcinogenic and antimutagenic potential of extracts of T. arjuna. In this experiment we have used human lymphocyte culture and bone marrow cells of albino mice as assay system. The parameters studied included chromosomal aberrations [CA], sister chromatid exchanges [SCEs] and cell growth kinetics [RI] both in the presence and in the absence of exogenous metabolic activation system for in vitro experiment, whereas total aberrant cells and the total frequencies of aberrations were taken for in vivo study. The role of T. arjuna extracts in reducing metaphase aberrations due to aflatoxin B[is quite significant, the reduction varying from 23.49%, 42.47%, and 59.65% down to 12.32%, 28.00%, and 36.88% respectively at the highest dose [TA[4]] for the three different durations viz., 24, 48 and 72 h. Similarly the number of sister chromatid exchanges got reduced from a higher level of 15.00 +/- 1.40 per cell to 7.70 +/- 0.50 per cell with S9 mix at 48 h of treatment. The replication index was enhanced from 1.33 to 1.55 in vitro. Similar trends were noticed in the in vivo experiments i.e., effective reductions in clastogeny ranging from 15.22% to 54.82% from the mutagen treated positive control and the total frequencies in aberrant cells got reduced from 429 due to AFB1 to 141 due to 5th concentration of Terminalia extracts at 32 h of exposure. The ameliorating potential of Terminalia extracts was dose and time dependant

Antigenotoxic and anticlastogenic potential of Agaricus bisporus against MMS induced toxicity in human lymphocyte cultures and in bone marrow cells of mice

The aim of the present study is to evaluate, for the first time, antigenotoxic potential of Agaricus bisporus against methyl methanesulphonate induced toxicity in human lymphocyte culture in vitro and in bone marrow cells of albino mice in vivo. The parameters studied included total aberrant cells and the frequencies of aberrations in the bone marrow cells at three exposure durations viz., 16, 24 and 32 h, and for the in vitro method using chromosomal aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges and replication indices as markers. The alcoholic extract of A. bisporus was taken in five increasing concentrations of 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 mg/kg body weight for three in vivo exposure durations viz., 16, 24 and 32 h. Similarly, four doses of extracts viz., 150, 200, 250 and 300 ?g/ml of culture were taken for in vitro durations of 24, 48 and 72 h in the presence as well as the absence of S9-mix. The treatment reduced the total number of aberrant cells ranging from 10.0% to 46.15% and it reduced the total frequencies of aberrations ranging from 198 to 96 against very high aberrations i.e., 227 caused due to methyl methanesulphonate in vivo. The same trends were observed in the in vitro experiments i.e., it reduced chromosomal aberrations from [42.00%, 71.25%, and 83.00% to 20.00%, 39.50%, and 43.00%] at 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure respectively. However when experiments were carried out in the presence of liver S9 fraction, these values were respectively 52.38, 44.56, and 48.34% significant at <0.05 level, likewise it also reduced sister chromatid exchanges from 14.86 +/- 1.44 down to 8.84 +/- 0.75 per cell, whereas the replication index got enhanced from 1.45 to 1.64