Mutagenic and Toxic Activity of some Jordanian Medicinal Plants

Abstract

A total of 39 ethanol extracts of Jordanian plants were examined for cytotoxicity and mutagenicity. Among the tested plants, 8 extracts were active in the brine shrimp cytotoxicity bioassay with LC₅₀ values in the range of 2.5-870 μg/ml. These positive extracts were further tested for their antitumor activity on human tumor cell lines in culture. Eminium spiculatum showed activity against a lung carcinoma line (A-549) with an ED₅₀ of 0.0793 μg/ ml. Regarding mutagenic effect, 16 of the extracts were active on Salmonella typhim-urium strains TA98 or TA 102, and the extract of Podonosma oriantalis showed mutagenic activity in both strains.

Keywords::

• Plant extracts
• brine shrimp
• cytotoxicity
• mutagenicity