Antimutagenic Potentials of Hydroalcoholic Herbal Extracts towards UV-Induced Mutation

Abstract

Twelve antimutagenic herbs reported elsewhere towards chemical mutagens were selected for the study. Their used parts which had been dried and ground were extracted with hydroalcohol. These extracts were evaluated for the antimutagenicity towards UVA- and UVB-induced mutation using modified Ames test having Escherichia coli B/r WP2 (trpE65) as the tester strain. Results revealed the hydroalcoholic extracts from damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill) flower, emblic (Phyllanthus emblica Linn) fruit pulp, guava (Psidium guajava Linn) leaf and myrobalan (Terminalia chebula Retz) fruit pulp were rather promising. Their IC50 towards both UVA- and UVB-induced mutation was less than 4 mg/plate. These extracts were then separately incorporated into SPF 8 sunscreen lotion. It was revealed that the damask rose and myrobalan sunscreen lotions were more appreciable than the guava and emblic sunscreen lotions. The IC50 of lotions incorporated with damask rose and myrobalan extracts was 4.3 and 2.3% w/w respectively towards UVA-induced mutation, and was 2.5 and 4.2 9% w/w respectively towards UVB-induced mutation. Whereas the IC50 of lotions incorporated with emblic and guava extracts was more than 7% w/w and was significantly higher than the IC50 shown by the unformulated extracts (p < 0.05). The sunscreen lotions in the presence and absence of these extracts were eventually evaluated for SPF. All lotions with the extracts showed higher values than the non-herbal one.