Antimutagenic property of a Chinese herb
- Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Shandong (China)
The root extracts of a Chinese herb, Polygonum multiflorum Thunb, has been used as internal medicine to improve liver and kidney functions for centuries. The antimutagenic property of this drug was evaluated with the Tradescantia-micronucleus (Trad-MCN) assay in this study. The Trad-MCN bioassay is a well-established test for chromosome damage induced by physical or chemical agents in terms of micronuclei (MCN) frequency. Inflorescences of the Tradescantia plant cuttings were first exposed to 35 R soft X-rays (80 Kv, 5 ma, 1 mm Al filter, dose rate around 50 R/min) and followed by drug treatments at 1%, 3% and 6% concentrations of the aqueous solution for a total of 24 hr recovery period. The positive (X-rays), negative (nutrient solution) and drug control (3% drug solution) groups were maintained in each of the three series of repeated experiments. Flower buds of the treated and control groups were fixed in aceto-alcohol (1:3 ratio) for preparation of slides to score MCN frequencies in the early tetrads of the meiotic pollen mother cells. The mean MCN frequencies (MCN/100 tetrads + SD) of the positive control (X-irradiated) was 26.67 + 9.62; the negative control was 2.92 + 1.90; the drug control was 2.06 + 1.50 and the 35 R X-ray/6% drug treated was 18.75 + 6.54. A 30% reduction of chromosome damage was observed. Antimutagenic effects were relatively lower at lower concentrations. This antimutagenic effect could be the results of the meiotic inhibition, DNA repair or radical elimination from the X-irradiation plant cells.
- OSTI ID:
- 88934
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9405324--
- Journal Information:
- Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, Journal Name: Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis Journal Issue: Suppl.23 Vol. 23; ISSN 0893-6692; ISSN EMMUEG
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Detection of genotoxicity of the gaseous agents emitted from two industrial sites with Tradescantia bioassays
CHROMOSOME ABERRATIONS ARISING SPONTANEOUSLY AND INDUCED IN MEIOTIC CESS AT LOW LEVELS OF RADIATION IN TRADESCANTIA