Effects of Selected Thai Ancient Remedies Extracts on Mutagenicity and Antimutagenicity Using Ames Test

Abstract

The extracts of selected Thai household ancient remedies namely: Chantaleela, Homtip-osot, Keaw-hom, Prasachandang, Prasamawaeng, Thoraneesantakat, Tree-hom, Ummaluk-kawatee and Wisampayayai were determined for the mutagenic and antimutagenic effects in the absence of metabolic activation using Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100.  Ethanol was the first solvent used to extract the remedies by soxhlet apparatus till exhaustion. Then the marc was further successively extracted with water. It was found that most ethanolic and water extracts of selected Thai ancient remedies were not directly mutagenic, except that the ethanolic extract of Tree-hom exhibited slightly mutagenicity with the mutagenic index of 3.6 and 2.2 on S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 respectively. However, after treating with nitrite, all extracts showed mutagenic potential on both strains. Antimutagenic assay using 1- aminopyrene-nitrite model revealed that selected Thai ancient remedies could either inhibit or enhance mutagenicity and the concentration-activity relationship was shown. The ethanolic extracts were revealed for more potent activities in mutagenicity and antimutagenicity than water extracts.