A study on the genotoxicity of sapindus saponin / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate acute toxicity and genotoxicity of sapindus saponin and to provide toxicological basis for sapindus saponin ’s daily applications. Methods Acute oral toxicity test,mammalian erythocyte micronucleus test, bacterial reverse mutation test and in vitro mammalian chromosome aberration test were used to investigate the effect of the sapindus saponin on gene mutation and chromosome aberration in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Results The acute toxicity test showed that the LD50 of sapindus saponin was 4640 mg/kg for both male and female mice. Toxic symptoms were observed including salivation,mucus and other toxic manifestations. There was no significant difference between the each dose group and the negative control group in the results of mammalian erythocyte micronucleus test( P>0. 05). The results of bacterial reverse mutation test were also negative. In each dose group and strain with or without S9,the number of revertant colonies did not exceed 2 times than that of spontaneous revertant colonies( negative control). No dose-response relationship was observed. The vitro mammalian chromosome aberration test showed that the IC50 of sapindus saponin on CHL was 75 μg/ml,and the differences between each dose group and the negative control group were not statistically significant( P >0. 05 ). However,the positive control group differed from the negative control group in all tests( P <0. 01). Conclusion Under this experimental condition,sapindus saponin has no genotoxicity.