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Evaluation of genotoxicity and mutagenicity of aqueous extracts of Rhazya stricta Decne. and Thymus vulgaris L.

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Abstract

Traditional herbal medicines have been part of human healthcare systems since ancient times. The studies on herbal medicines have mainly focused on their beneficial aspects and hence their harmful effects have been usually overlooked. Throughout Middle East and South Asia, Rhazya stricta Decne. and Thymus vulgaris L. are used as traditional medicines for various diseases. We evaluated R. stricta and T. vulgaris aqueous extracts for their genotoxicity and mutagenicity through comet assay and Ames Salmonella mutagenicity test respectively. An overall treatment effect (p < 0.0001) showed higher genotoxicity of T. vulgaris extract indicated by increased tail moments in comet assay compared to the extract of R. stricta and the combined extract. Further, an overall dose effect (p < 0.0001) showed higher genotoxicity at 1 mg/ml which further increased at 5 mg/ml doses of the extracts compared to 0 mg/ml. The genotoxicity did not show any further increase at 10 mg/ml. The extracts were also tested for their mutagenicity through Ames Salmonella test. R. stricta and T. vulgaris were not mutagenic to TA100 and TA98 when extracts tested separately. However, combined extracts of R. stricta and T. vulgaris was weakly mutagenic to TA98 with number of revertants 92 ± 8 at the highest concentration tested. This study implies that the herbal medicines should be used cautiously as they may cause long term harmful effects along with the intended beneficial activity.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support in the form of Research Grant No: AS–34–146, from the King Abdulaziz City for Sciences and Technology, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is gratefully acknowledged. Authors are highly thankful to Prof. Mohd Amin Beg, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for statistical analysis of the results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Shatha Salem Hameed & Ahmed M. Alhejin

  2. King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    M-Zaki Mustafa ElAssouli, Mohammad Zubair Alam & Sufian Mohamad ElAssouli

  3. College of Sciences, Biology Department, Division of Botany, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Faten Zubair Filimban

Authors
  1. Shatha Salem Hameed
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  2. M-Zaki Mustafa ElAssouli
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  3. Ahmed M. Alhejin
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  4. Mohammad Zubair Alam
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  5. Sufian Mohamad ElAssouli
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  6. Faten Zubair Filimban
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Contributions

SSH performed the research; M-ZME provided the technical support during experiments, AMA and SME designed and supervised the study, FZF identified the plants, MZA analyzed the results and compiled the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sufian Mohamad ElAssouli.

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This manuscript described has not been published before; not under consideration for publication anywhere else; and has been approved by all co-authors.

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Hameed, S.S., ElAssouli, MZ.M., Alhejin, A.M. et al. Evaluation of genotoxicity and mutagenicity of aqueous extracts of Rhazya stricta Decne. and Thymus vulgaris L.. Orient Pharm Exp Med 18, 357–363 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-018-0338-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-018-0338-6

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