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Cytogenetic evaluation of the effect of aqueous extracts of the medicinal plants Alpinia nutans Rosc (Zingiberaceae) and Pogostemun heyneanus Benth (Labiatae) on wistar rats and Allium cepa Linn. (Liliaceae) root tip cells

Francisca da Luz Dias^I,III; Catarina Satie Takahash^II,III

^IDepartamento de Genética, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Universitário, 66075-900 Belém, PA, Brasil
^IIDepartamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, 14040-901 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil
^IIIDepartamento de Genética e Matemática Aplicada à Biologia, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil. Send correspondence to C.S.T.

ABSTRACT

Aqueous extracts of two medicinal plants, Alpinia nutans Rosc (Zingiberaceae) and Pogostemun heyneanus Benth (Labiatae) were tested in vivo on two biological systems for clastogenic and turbagenic activity.
Neither extract was effective in inducing structural or numerical chromosome aberrations in rat bone marrow cells at the following concentrations (weight of leaves used to make extract):150 up to 1200 mg/kg body weight for A. nutans, and 160 up to 1280 mg/kg body weight for P. heineanus.
When tested on onion (Allium cepa) root-tip cells, the extracts were highly toxic at the highest concentrations (more than 20 mg/ml for A. nutans and more than 16 mg/m1 for P. heyneanus). At lower concentrations, the two extracts had an inhibitory effect on onion cell development.

Keywords: cytogenetic evaluation; aqueous; medicinal plants; Alpinia nutans Rosc; Pogostemun heyneanus Benth; wistar rats; Allium cepa Linn; root tip cells.

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