Genotoxicity Study of Vitex megapotamica (Spreng.) Moldenke.

Vitex megapotamica (Spreng) Moldenke is commonly known as tarumã, it is an important medicinal and edible fruit plant. It is native to regions of tropical and subtropical climate in greater proportion than temperate zones and widely distributed in Central America, South America, Asia, and Africa. In Brazil, it is present in the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes. Despite its widespread use, there are no minimum standards for quality control or information on genotoxicity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to present a detailed description of the short-term genotoxicity assays of V. megapotamica and to provide parameters of a preparation routinely used in traditional folk medicine. For genotoxicity assays, five groups were used with eight wistar rats in each group. For this, three doses of the V. megapotamica extract in doses (100, 300, and 900 mg/kg) or negative control (filtered water) were administered orally and positive control cyclophosphamide monohydrate (20 mg/kg; Sigma-Aldrich®) was applied by the intraperitoneal route after 24 h. At the end, whole blood was collected in a tube containing EDTA for the comet test and later the animals were euthanized. For the micronucleus test, femurs were removed, and bone marrow was collected. In the comet assay, V. megapotamica crude extract did not show significant DNA damage at all doses tested. The micronucleus assay showed no significant increase in the frequency of inducing micronuclei at any dose examined. It can be concluded that the safety parameters in genotoxicity studies reveal that V. megapotamica has no toxicity, which characterizes the important quality control of this plant species.