Antimutagenicity of extracts of three edible plants from Mosul City (Iraq)‎ in conidia of Aspergillus amstelodami

Abstract EN

The potential antimutagenic action of extracts of three common edible plants in Mosul was tested in conidia of the ascomycetous fungus Aspergillus amstelodami.

Extracts of leaves of celery (Apium graveolens Linn) and parsley (Petroselinum sativum Hoffn.) and the round roots of radish (Raphanus sativus Linn.) were made in water, methanol, ethylacetate or petroleum ether.

The antimutagenic action was sought in the reduction of frequency of spontaneous and induced (by 8-Methoxypsoralen + Near UV, 8-MOP + NUV) mutants resistant to 8-azaguanine.

Three final concentrations in the growth medium of each extract were tested.

These were (μg / ml) 800, 1600 and 3200 for celery and parsley and 600, 800 and 1200 for radish.

The water extract of celery was ineffective while its concentration 3200 in methanol in ethylacetate and all three concentrations in the petroleum ether were effective in reducing the frequency of induced resistant mutants.

Extracts of parsley behaved similarly.

Extracts of the radish roots were all ineffective at all concentrations tested except the concentration 1200 of the water extract.

The effect of the radish water is attributed to peroxidases and oxidases while those of celery and parsley to some lipid-soluble components which were sequentially concentrated in the petroleum ether according to the extraction protocol used.

Furthermore, none of the extracts by itself or in combinations with 8-MOP alone or NUV alone was found effective in significantly altering the frequency of the spontaneous mutants.

This was taken to indicate that the extracts by themselves did not act as mutagenis or synergistic mutagens or photosensitizers to NUV.

Moreover, their action on the positive mutagen (8-MOP + NUV) and not on the spontaneous frequencies suggests that these extracts behaved as desmutagens acting on the mutagen rather than as bioantimutagens acting directly on DNA.