Asha Devi. S, Subramanian Babu
Abstract
Present study was carried out to ascertain whether - asarone, a constituent of herbal medicinal oil exert genotoxic effects in mouse bone marrow. For this study Swiss albino mice (five male and five female) were treated with maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of -asarone as single i.p. dose, corresponding to the LD50 of - asarone (182.4 mg/kg body wt) for the mice. The micronucleus test was conducted using a method based on OECD and European Union guidelines to observe the effects on mouse bone marrow. The results obtained suggest that -asarone did not increase the incidence of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MPE) in bone marrow. However, cyclophosphamide used as positive control had increased the incidence of MPE in bone marrow. Our findings revealed that - asarone did not have genotoxic or mutagenic effects for the tested dose.