Assessment of toxic, genotoxic, antigenotoxic, and recombinogenic activities of Hymenaea courbaril (Fabaceae) in Drosophila melanogaster and mice

Abstract

Hymenaea courbaril L., popularly known as jatobá, is a plant species that grows in the forests of South America. The species has been used for culinary purposes and in folk medicine to treat arthritis and inflammations. Due to the increasing use of this plant globally, the present study aimed to evaluate the toxic, genotoxic, recombinogenic, and antigenotoxic effects of H. courbaril sap (Hycs) using the mouse bone marrow micronucleus test and the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster. To evaluate the aneugenic and clastogenic activities revealed by the micronucleus test, the animals were treated with 3 doses of Hycs (5, 10, and 15 mL/kg body weight). To evaluate the antianeugenic and anticlastogenic activities, the animals were simultaneously treated with Hycs and mitomycin C (4 mg/kg body weight). To assess the mutagenic and recombinogenic activities using SMART, 3-day-old larvae derived from standard and high bioactivation crosses were treated with 3 doses of Hycs (3.0, 1.5, and 0.3 mL) for approximately 48 h. To evaluate antimutagenic and antirecombinogenic activities, larvae derived from both crosses were co-treated with 3 doses of Hycs (3.0, 1.5, and 0.3 mL) and doxorubicin (0.125 mg/ mL). The mouse bone marrow micronucleus test revealed that Hycs exhibited no cytotoxic, clastogenic and/or aneugenic effects, but did show anticytotoxic, anticlastogenic and/or antianeugenic activities. The SMART revealed no mutagenic or recombinogenic effects, but antimutagenic and antirecombinogenic activities were observed in somatic cells of D. melanogaster from both crosses.