Evaluación de efectos citotóxicos y genotóxicos de infusiones acuosas de CYNOGLOSSUM AMABILE (BORAGINACEAE) en células meristemáticas de Allium cepa.

Abstract

The consumption of medicinal plants is increasing in the society, but many of these plants have not been subjected to toxicity studies, contributing to an increase in cases of poisoning. In this sense, Cynoglossum amabile is a plant that has been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of various ailments such as pain and inflammation. However, it has been evidenced that this plant contains various toxins and it is unknown if their presence has harmful effects on biological assays and ultimately, the consumer. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of aqueous infusions of C. amabile at different concentrations (1.8mg/ml, 4.1mg/ml, 6.4mg/ml, 8.7mg/ml, 11.0mg/ml, 13.3mg/ml, and 15.6mg/ml) on the biological model Allium cepa. The root meristems of A. cepa were exposed to each concentration for 24 hours and the cytotoxic and genotoxic parameters evaluated were the mitotic index, phase indexes, and incidence of chromosomal abnormalities, respectively. The results showed that the aqueous infusions of C. amabile have a significant effect on proliferation, as there was a decrease in the number of cells in division and the percentage mitotic index at all concentrations. The concentration of 13.3mg/ml presented the lowest number of cells in division and the highest inhibition percentage, which was 64.23%. However, no significant effect was found on the index of each of the stages of the M phase of the cell cycle. Additionally, various chromosomal abnormalities were observed during the assays with C. amabile aqueous infusions, such as binucleated cells, sticky chromosomes, chromosomal bridges, micronuclei, and nuclear lesions. However, no statistically significant relationship was found between the exposure dose and the incidence of these chromosomal abnormalities. Generally, these results suggest that aqueous infusions of C. amabile are cytotoxic and that this plant could act as an anti-mitotic agent. Also,