in vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five ochna species (ochnaceae) with excellent...

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In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of ve Ochna species (Ochnaceae) with excellent antibacterial activity Tshepiso J. Makhafola, Lyndy J. McGaw , Jacobus N. Eloff Phytomedicine Programme, Department of Paraclinical Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa abstract article info Article history: Received 15 April 2013 Received in revised form 13 November 2013 Accepted 14 November 2013 Available online 14 December 2013 Edited by L Verschaeve Keywords: Ames test Antibacterial activity Cytotoxicity Mutagenicity Ochna Safety of medicinal plants Extracts and fractions of some Ochna species had excellent antibacterial activity. Before considering the potential therapeutic use of these extracts it is important to determine the safety of extracts. The cytotoxicity of Ochna natalitia, Ochna pretoriensis, Ochna pulchra, Ochna gamostigmata, and Ochna serrulata (Ochnaceae) was determined in monkey kidney (Vero) cells, human hepatocellular carcinoma (C3A) cells and bovine dermis cells using the mitochondrial viability MTT assay. Their potential mutagenic effects were also determined using the Ames test with strains Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 with and without metabolic activation. The LC 50 values (the lethal concentration at which 50% of the cells are killed) of the extracts on the various cell lines ranged from 26 to 99 μg/ml. None of the plant species was mutagenic (mutagenic index values 1.59 for TA98 and 0.92 for TA100). In a previous study, we determined the antibacterial activity of the ve extracts against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. From this we calculated the selectivity index (SI) values by dividing the LC 50 value by the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) to obtain the ratio of toxicity to bioactivity of each extract. The plant extracts had low SI values 1.307. This is a clear indication of non-selective toxicity, i.e. extracts are almost equally toxic to the bacteria and mammalian cell lines used in the assays. As a result, the extracts may have limited application as ingestible or intravenous therapeutic agents based on the in vitro ndings. However, it may be necessary to also evaluate in vivo toxicity of the extracts in animal models as in vitro toxicity does not always equate to in vivo toxicity because of the difference in physiological microenvironment in live animals and tissue culture. Additionally, if it is the case that the toxic compounds are not the same as the active compounds, it may be possible to potentiate the extracts by the removal of toxic compounds and concentration of active compounds. The extracts may then be useful for development into treatments for topical bacterial infections. © 2013 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The reliance on medicinal plants as an alternative form of health care warrants scientic validation of their safety. Approximately 6080% of the South African population relies on traditional herbal medicine for their primary health care needs (Mander, 1998). Despite the known pharmacological/therapeutic effects of traditional medicinal plants, it is crucial to validate their safety as well as their efcacy when studying their traditional uses. Medicinal plants and pharmaceutical drugs may be therapeutic at one dose and toxic at another (McGaw et al., 2007). Common misconceptions exist that, since extracts of medicinal plants are natural, they are safe. Plants used medicinally are sometimes assumed to be safe but many are potentially toxic (Street et al., 2008). Secondary metabolites, which are the basis of biological activity of medicinal plants, are not benign molecules. Plants have evolved many chemical defences to deter, stun, poison or kill threatening species (Gurib-Fakim, 2006). In this study, we investigate the potential cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of ve Ochna species previously reported to have good anti- bacterial activity against four nosocomial pathogenic bacteria, namely Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Makhafola and Eloff, 2012). We used the MTT (methyltetrazolium) cytotoxicity assay (Mosmann, 1983) which assesses the cells' mitochondrial competence. The MTT assay is widely used to assess the viability and the metabolic state of the cells (Freshney, 2000). Genotoxicity was tested using the Salmonella micro- some mutagenicity assay which is commonly used to detect substances or chemicals that can produce genetic damage that leads to gene mutations. It has a high predictive value for in vivo carcinogenicity (Mortelmans and Zeiger, 2000; Morandim-Giannetti et al., 2011). 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Plant collection and extraction Leaves of the ve plant species were collected in summer at the National Botanical Gardens in Pretoria, the Lowveld National Botanical South African Journal of Botany 91 (2014) 913 Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 12 529 8351; fax: +27 12 529 8304. E-mail address: [email protected] (L.J. McGaw). 0254-6299/$ see front matter © 2013 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2013.11.010 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect South African Journal of Botany journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sajb

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Page 1: In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five Ochna species (Ochnaceae) with excellent antibacterial activity

South African Journal of Botany 91 (2014) 9–13

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

South African Journal of Botany

j ourna l homepage: www.e lsev ie r .com/ locate /sa jb

In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five Ochna species (Ochnaceae)with excellent antibacterial activity

Tshepiso J. Makhafola, Lyndy J. McGaw ⁎, Jacobus N. EloffPhytomedicine Programme, Department of Paraclinical Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa

⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 12 529 8351; fax: +E-mail address: [email protected] (L.J. McGaw).

0254-6299/$ – see front matter © 2013 SAAB. Published bhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2013.11.010

a b s t r a c t

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 15 April 2013Received in revised form 13 November 2013Accepted 14 November 2013Available online 14 December 2013

Edited by L Verschaeve

Keywords:Ames testAntibacterial activityCytotoxicityMutagenicityOchnaSafety of medicinal plants

Extracts and fractions of someOchna species had excellent antibacterial activity. Before considering the potentialtherapeutic use of these extracts it is important to determine the safety of extracts. The cytotoxicity of Ochnanatalitia, Ochna pretoriensis, Ochna pulchra, Ochna gamostigmata, and Ochna serrulata (Ochnaceae) wasdetermined in monkey kidney (Vero) cells, human hepatocellular carcinoma (C3A) cells and bovine dermiscells using the mitochondrial viability MTT assay. Their potential mutagenic effects were also determinedusing the Ames testwith strains Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100with andwithoutmetabolic activation.The LC50 values (the lethal concentration at which 50% of the cells are killed) of the extracts on the various celllines ranged from 26 to 99 μg/ml. None of the plant species was mutagenic (mutagenic index values ≤ 1.59for TA98 and≤0.92 for TA100). In a previous study, we determined the antibacterial activity of the five extractsagainst Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. From this wecalculated the selectivity index (SI) values by dividing the LC50 value by the minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) to obtain the ratio of toxicity to bioactivity of each extract. The plant extracts had low SI values ≤ 1.307.This is a clear indication of non-selective toxicity, i.e. extracts are almost equally toxic to the bacteria andmammalian cell lines used in the assays. As a result, the extracts may have limited application as ingestible orintravenous therapeutic agents based on the in vitro findings. However, it may be necessary to also evaluatein vivo toxicity of the extracts in animal models as in vitro toxicity does not always equate to in vivo toxicitybecause of the difference in physiological microenvironment in live animals and tissue culture. Additionally, ifit is the case that the toxic compounds are not the same as the active compounds, itmay be possible to potentiatethe extracts by the removal of toxic compounds and concentration of active compounds. The extracts may thenbe useful for development into treatments for topical bacterial infections.

© 2013 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The reliance onmedicinal plants as an alternative form of health carewarrants scientific validation of their safety. Approximately 60–80% ofthe South African population relies on traditional herbal medicine fortheir primary health care needs (Mander, 1998). Despite the knownpharmacological/therapeutic effects of traditional medicinal plants, itis crucial to validate their safety as well as their efficacy when studyingtheir traditional uses. Medicinal plants and pharmaceutical drugs maybe therapeutic at one dose and toxic at another (McGaw et al., 2007).Common misconceptions exist that, since extracts of medicinal plantsare natural, they are safe. Plants used medicinally are sometimesassumed to be safe but many are potentially toxic (Street et al., 2008).Secondary metabolites, which are the basis of biological activity ofmedicinal plants, are not benign molecules. Plants have evolved manychemical defences to deter, stun, poison or kill threatening species(Gurib-Fakim, 2006).

27 12 529 8304.

y Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this study, we investigate the potential cytotoxic and genotoxiceffects of five Ochna species previously reported to have good anti-bacterial activity against four nosocomial pathogenic bacteria, namelyStaphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis andPseudomonas aeruginosa (Makhafola and Eloff, 2012). We used theMTT (methyltetrazolium) cytotoxicity assay (Mosmann, 1983) whichassesses the cells' mitochondrial competence. The MTT assay is widelyused to assess the viability and the metabolic state of the cells(Freshney, 2000). Genotoxicity was tested using the Salmonella micro-somemutagenicity assay which is commonly used to detect substancesor chemicals that can produce genetic damage that leads to genemutations. It has a high predictive value for in vivo carcinogenicity(Mortelmans and Zeiger, 2000; Morandim-Giannetti et al., 2011).

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Plant collection and extraction

Leaves of the five plant species were collected in summer at theNational Botanical Gardens in Pretoria, the Lowveld National Botanical

Page 2: In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five Ochna species (Ochnaceae) with excellent antibacterial activity

10 T.J. Makhafola et al. / South African Journal of Botany 91 (2014) 9–13

Gardens in Nelspruit and the University of Pretoria Botanical Gardens.The origin of each tree is documented in the database of the botanicalgarden and voucher specimens were deposited in different herbaria(Table 1). Leaves were dried in the dark at room temperature andpulverised into fine powder and stored in closed glass bottles in thedark until used. The dry leaf powder (2 g) was mixed with 20 mlacetone (technical quality; Merck Pharmaceuticals, Pretoria, SouthAfrica). The resulting suspension was shaken vigorously in 50 ml poly-ester centrifuge tubes and centrifuged for 15 min at 360 ×g (HettichCentrifuge, Rotofix 32A, Labotec, Johannesburg, South Africa). Theextracts were decanted into preweighed glass vials through WhatmanNo. 1 filter paper and concentrated to dryness under a stream of air.The dried extracts were made up to a concentration of 100 mg/ml inacetone to be used in subsequent assays and stored at 4 °C in tightlystoppered glass tubes.

2.2. Cytotoxicity assay

African green monkey kidney (Vero) cells, human hepatocellularcarcinoma (C3A) cells and bovine dermis cells were used in this exper-iment. The C3A cells were obtained from the American Type CultureCollection (ATCC CRL-10741), and the other two cell lineswere obtainedfrom the culture collection of the Department of Veterinary TropicalDiseases (University of Pretoria). The cells were maintained in MinimalEssential Medium (MEM, Highveld Biological) supplemented with 0.1%gentamicin and 5% foetal bovine serum (FBS, Adcock-Ingram) for theVero and bovine dermis cells, and 10% FBS for the C3A cells.

The cells of a subconfluent culture were harvested using trypsin-EDTA (Sigma) and centrifuged at 200 ×g for 5 min and resuspendedin growth medium to 5 × 104 cells/ml. A total of 200 μl of the cellsuspension was pipetted into each well of columns 2 to 11 of a 96well culture plate. The same amount of the growth medium wasadded to wells of columns 1 and 12 to maintain humidity andminimisethe edge effect. The plateswere incubated at 37 °C in a 5% CO2 incubatorovernight until the cells were in the exponential phase of growth. Afterincubation, the MEM was aspirated from the cells and replaced with200 μl of different concentrations of the test samples prepared inMEM. Each dilution of the test sample was tested in quadruplicate.The plates were again incubated for 2 days at 37 °C in a 5% incubator.A negative control (untreated cells) and positive control (cells treatedwith different concentrations of doxorubicin chloride, Sigma) as wellas an acetone solvent control, were included. After incubation, theMEM containing test substances was removed from the cells, the cellswere washed with phosphate buffered saline (PBS, Sigma) and thenfresh MEM (200 μl) was added to each well to avoid interaction of theplant extract with MTT. Following this washing step, 30 μl of 5 mg/mlMTT (Sigma) in PBS was added to each well and the plates were incu-bated for a further 4 h at 37 °C (Mosmann, 1983). After incubationwith MTT, the medium in each well was removed and the formazancrystals formed were dissolved by adding 50 μl of DMSO to each wellof the plates. The plates were gently shaken until the crystals weredissolved. The amount of MTT reduction was measured immediatelyby detecting the absorbance using a microplate reader at a wavelengthof 570 nm (VersaMax, Molecular Devices). The wells in columns 1 and12, containing medium and MTT but no cells were used to blank the

Table 1Names of plants, herbarium and voucher specimen numbers of the five species of Ochna(Ochnaceae) investigated.

Plant species Herbarium and voucher number

Ochna natalitia (Meisn.) Walp Lowveld NBG Herbarium 30/1969Ochna pretoriensis E.Phillips HGWJ Schweickerdt Herbarium 114801Ochna pulchra Hook.f HGWJ Schweickerdt Herbarium 148021Ochna serrulata (Hochst) Walp HGWJ Schweickerdt Herbarium 114820Ochna gamostigmata Du Toit HGWJ Schweickerdt Herbarium 114796

microplate reader. The percentage of cell viability was calculated usingthe formula below:

%cell viability ¼ Mean Absorbance of sampleMean Absorbance of control

� 100:

The LC50 values (the lethal concentration at which 50% of the cellsare killed) were calculated as the concentration of the test sample thatresulted in 50% reduction of absorbance compared to untreated cells.The intensity of the MTT formazan produced by living metabolicallyactive cells, as determined by the correlating absorbance reading, isdirectly proportional to the number of live cells present (Mosmann,1983).

From the publishedminimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values(Makhafola and Eloff, 2012) and LC50 values calculated in this study, theselectivity index values against the three cell lineswere calculated usingthe formula below

SI ¼ LC50=MIC:

The selectivity index values indicate the plant extract's relative safe-ty, reflecting the ratio between toxicity and activity. A high selectivityindex is an indication of a large safety margin between the concentra-tion of the extract that is able to kill the bacteria and the concentrationthat is toxic to mammalian cells in this case.

2.3. Antibacterial activity testing against Salmonella typhimurium

In an initial step to assess the potential antibacterial activity of theextracts on the Ames tester strains, a serial dilution assay (Eloff, 1998)was conducted to determine the MIC values of the crude extractsagainst S. typhimurium test strains TA98 and TA100. Each extract wasassayed at an initial concentration of 5 mg/ml and serially dilutedtwo-fold in 96-well microtitre plates with equal volumes of water.One hundred microlitres of each bacterial culture was added to eachwell. A negative control and gentamicin as the positive control wereincluded. The plates were incubated overnight at 37 °C. To indicatebacterial growth, 40 μl of 0.2 mg/ml INT was added to each well afterincubation and the plates incubated further at 37 °C for 30 min. TheMIC was recorded as the lowest concentration of the compoundsat which the bacterial growth was inhibited. The experiment wasperformed in triplicate and repeated twice for verification.

2.4. Genotoxicity testing (Ames test)

The potential genotoxic effects offiveOchna specieswere investigatedusing the S. typhimurium test strains TA98 and TA100 (Maron and Ames,1983). Briefly, 0.1 ml of bacterial stock was incubated in 20 ml of OxoidNutrient broth (Fluka) for 16 h at 37 °C on a rotative shaker. Of thisovernight culture, 0.1 ml was added to 2.0 ml of top agar (containingtraces of biotin and histidine) together with 0.1 ml test solution (testsample, solvent control or positive control) and 0.5 ml phosphatebuffer. The top agar mixture was poured over the surface of a minimalagar plate and incubated for 48 h at 37 °C. After incubation the numberof revertant colonies (mutants) was counted. The positive control usedin this study was 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4-NQO) (Sigma) at concen-trations of 2 and 1 μg/ml for S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 respective-ly. All cultures were made in triplicate (except the solvent controlwhere five replicates were made).

The above assay was repeated with the inclusion of freshly preparedS9 mixture (Sigma-Aldrich) in the place of phosphate buffer to assessthe effect of metabolic activation of the plant extracts on theS. typhimurium test strains. The S9 mixture contained 4% (v/v) S9 frac-tion pooled from Sprague–Dawley male rats. Aflatoxin B1 (1 μg/ml,Romer Labs Diagnostic GmbH, Austria) was used as a positive control

Page 3: In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five Ochna species (Ochnaceae) with excellent antibacterial activity

Table 2Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of leaf acetone extracts of five Ochna species against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus and E. faecalis, and cytotoxic effects against Vero, dermal andhepatic cells.

Antibacterial activity MIC values (mg/ml) (Makhafola and Eloff, 2012)

Organisms O. pretoriensis O. pulchra O. serrulata O. gamostigmata O. natalitia Gentamicin

E. coli 0.065 ± 0.02 0.312 ± 0.00 0.312 ± 0.00 0.312 ± 0.00 0.520 ± 0.18 0.0039P. aeruginosa 0.104 ± 0.04 0.065 ± 0.02 0.156 ± 0.00 0.104 ± 0.04 0.833 ± 0.36 0.00019S. aureus 0.104 ± 0.04 0.078 ± 0.00 1.250 ± 0.00 0.416 ± 0.18 0.416 ± 0.18 0.00048E. faecalis 0.039 ± 0.00 0.078 ± 0.02 0.520 ± 0.18 0.312 ± 0.00 0.625 ± 0.00 0.0039

Cytotoxic effects LC50 (mg/ml)

Cell line O. pretoriensis O. pulchra O. serrulata O. gamostigmata O. natalitia Doxorubicin

Vero kidney 0.040 ± 0.003 0.040 ± 0.001 0.026 ± 0.002 0.059 ± 0.003 0.046 ± 0.003 0.0170Bovine dermis 0.051 ± 0.001 0.037 ± 0.001 0.044 ± 0.014 0.066 ± 0.004 0.070 ± 0.004 0.0042C3A liver 0.051 ± 0.001 0.055 ± 0.006 0.036 ± 0.003 0.029 ± 0.003 0.099 ± 0.013 0.0006

Table 3Selectivity index values of acetone leaf extracts of five Ochna species against Vero, dermaland hepatic cells.

Selectivity index values

Organism O. pretoriensis O. pulchra O. serrulata O. gamostigmata O. natalitia

Vero monkey kidney cellsE. coli 0.615 0.128 0.083 0.189 0.088P. aeruginosa 0.385 0.615 0.166 0.567 0.055S. aureus 0.385 0.513 0.021 0.142 0.111E. faecalis 0.975 0.513 0.050 0.189 0.074

Bovine dermisE. coli 0.785 0.119 0.141 0.212 0.135P. aeruginosa 0.490 0.569 0.282 0.635 0.084S. aureus 0.490 0.474 0.035 0.159 0.168E. faecalis 1.307 0.474 0.085 0.212 0.112

Human hepatocytes (C3A)E. coli 0.785 0.176 0.115 0.093 0.190P. aeruginosa 0.490 0.846 0.231 0.279 0.119S. aureus 0.490 0.705 0.029 0.069 0.238E. faecalis 1.307 0.705 0.069 0.093 0.158

11T.J. Makhafola et al. / South African Journal of Botany 91 (2014) 9–13

as this is a known toxin requiring metabolic activation (Wong andHsieh, 1976; Dunn et al., 1982).

3. Results and discussion

Most reports of toxic effects due to the use of herbal medicines anddietary supplements are associated with hepatotoxicity, althoughreports of other toxic effects including kidney, nervous system, blood,cardiovascular and dermatologic effects, mutagenicity and carcinoge-nicity have also been published (Temple and Himmel, 2002). It wasfor these reasons that we investigated the cytotoxic and mutageniceffects of extracts of five Ochna species. Table 2 shows the antibacterialactivity and cytotoxic effects of thefiveOchna species. The extractswerealmost equally toxic to all three cell lines with LC50 values ranging from0.026 to 0.099 mg/ml. Ochna natalitiawas the least toxic against all thecell lines, followed by Ochna gamostigmata, Ochna pretoriensis, Ochna

Table 4Antibacterial activity of five Ochna species against Salmonella typhimurium strains used in the A

Antibacterial activity against Salmonella tester strains MIC values (mg/ml)

S. typhimurium O. pretoriensis O. pulchra O. serrul

TA98 2.29 ± 0.510 1.67 ± 0.365 2.29 ±TA100 2.50 ± 0.00 2.5 ± 0.00 2.29 ±

pulchra and lastly Ochna serrulata. Each of the extracts had similar cyto-toxic effects on all the cell lines irrespective of the differences in cellproperties and physiological origins.

The extracts were almost equally toxic to the three cell lines and thepathogens used in the previous study with selectivity index valuesranging from 0.021 to 1.307 (Table 3). With selectivity index valuesbelow one in most cases, it appears that the observed antibacterialactivitymay be a result of generalmetabolic toxicity. This demonstratesa lack of safety of the Ochna extracts in these in vitro studies as theconcentrations at which the extracts were cytotoxic to the cell lineswere generally lower than the concentrations at which they had anti-bacterial activity. Moreover, the almost equal LC50 values may be dueto a similarity in the chemical composition of active constituents inthe crude extracts prepared from species of the same genus. We didhowever previously report that there are major differences in the phy-tochemical constituents of these species (Makhafola and Eloff, 2012).

Although the extracts had low selectivity index values (indicatingsimilar cytotoxicity and antibacterial activity) it is worthwhile to keepin mind that in vitro toxicity does not always equate to in vivo toxicitybecause of the difference in physiological microenvironment in liveanimals and tissue culture. Other factors related to chemical kineticssuch as rate of absorption, biotransformation, distribution and excretion,which influence the exposure at the level of target cells in vivo, cannot atpresent be adequately simulated in vitro (Freshney, 2000).

The antibacterial activity of the Ochna extracts against theS. typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100 is shown in Table 4. RelativelyhighMIC values above 2 mg/mlwere obtained formost extracts againstboth strains. With the initial highest concentration of 5 mg/ml in theAmes test, the final concentration of extract to which the bacteria areexposed does not exceed 2 mg/ml following dilution in the bufferand agar during preparations for the test, so only the O. pulchra andO. gamostigmata extracts would potentially have an effect on the bacte-ria as theMIC values of these extractswere slightly lower than 2 mg/ml.As there is a small amount of histidine in the top agar, the histidine-dependent S. typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100 are able to undergoa limited number of divisions, forming a background lawn on the agarplates. Absence of this background lawn or a thinning of the lawn indi-cates toxicity or partial toxicity respectively (Mortelmans and Zeiger,2000). For all the extracts in the current experiments, the density of

mes test.

ata O. gamostigmata O. natalitia Gentamicin

0.510 1.25 ± 0.00 3.75 ± 1.37 0.00320.510 1.25 ± 0.00 4.17 ± 1.29 0.0032

Page 4: In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five Ochna species (Ochnaceae) with excellent antibacterial activity

Table 5Mutagenic effects of acetone leaf extracts of five Ochna species in the Salmonella/microsome assay using S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 tester strains without metabolic activation. Theresults are expressed as mean number of revertants, standard deviation and mutagenic index values (in parentheses).

Conc. (mg/ml) O. pretoriensis O. pulchra O. serrulata O. gamostigmata O. natalitia

Salmonella typhimurium TA985 24.66 ± 2.08 (1.011) 34.33 ± 2.52 (1.407) 24.33 ± 1.55 (0.997) 35.00 ± 3.00 (1.434) 25.33 ± 2.52 (1.038)0.5 36.00 ± 4.36 (1.475) 36.67 ± 1.15 (1.503) 27.00 ± 1.73 (1.107) 27.00 ± 4.00 (1.107) 29.33 ± 0.58 (1.202)0.05 39.00 ± 3.30 (1.598) 33.00 ± 1.00 (1.352) 33.67 ± 0.57 (1.379) 31.00 ± 1.73 (1.270) 26.33 ± 3.00 (1.079)0 24.4 ± 3.58 (1) 4-NQO (2 μg/ml) 301.33 ± 3.21 (12.35)

Salmonella typhimurium TA1005 121.33 ± 2.52 (0.792) 104.33 ± 4.04 (0.681) 94.67 ± 1.53 (0.618) 101.00 ± 1.00 (0.659) 127.33 ± 1.53 (0.831)0.5 140.00 ± 4.04 (0.914) 110.33 ± 1.53 (0.720) 118.00 ± 1.00 (0.770) 110.67 ± 2.08 (0.722) 123.67 ± 1.53 (0.807)0.05 141.67 ± 3.06 (0.925) 124.00 ± 4.36 (0.809) 120.67 ± 2.89 (0.788) 128.67 ± 6.66 (0.839) 136.33 ± 2.082 (0.889)0 153.20 ± 2.86 (1) 4-NQO (1 μg/ml) 1154.67 ± 5.77 (7.54)

12 T.J. Makhafola et al. / South African Journal of Botany 91 (2014) 9–13

the background lawn was compared to that of the negative control andfound to have no visible differences, indicating a lack of toxicity to thebacteria at the concentrations tested.

It is important to note that the presence of histidine in plant extractsmay increase the spontaneous revertant mutation rate (Moosavi et al.,2013), so histidine content of the samples may be tested (Freid andSherma, 1982) prior to conducting the Ames test. If this is not doneinitially and the number of revertants is found to be higher than thatof the control, then a histidine investigation of the extracts should bedone to exclude the possibility of histidine in the extracts influencingthe results. In this case however, there is no reason to suspect that theextracts contain histidine in quantities appreciable enough to influencethe results of the Ames test as we did not note a higher number ofrevertants.

Tables 5 and 6 show the results obtained from themutagenicity test-ing (with and without metabolic activation respectively) of the fiveOchna species represented as number of revertants per plate andmuta-genic index value. The bacterial-based Ames test is primarily used toconfirm gene safety of test substances. In many instances there is a di-rect relationship between mutagenesis and carcinogenesis (McCannand Ames, 1976; Zeiger, 2001). Because of this relationship, evaluationof the mutagenic effects of medicinal plants is highly recommendedfor detecting potential genotoxicants (Morandim-Giannetti et al.,2011). It has been recommended that for general screening purposesa tiered approach can be used, initially including strains TA98 andTA100 with and without metabolic activation (Mortelmans andZeiger, 2000). For more in depth investigations, subsequent tests canbe conducted with other strains such as TA1535 and TA97, and TA102and TA104 can also be included (Mortelmans and Zeiger, 2000). Fromthe results obtained in this study, no extract of the five Ochna specieshad any mutagenic effects on S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 testerstrains . In all cases, the mutagenic index values (MI = # of revertants

Table 6Mutagenic effects of acetone leaf extracts offiveOchna species in the Salmonella/microsome assaare expressed as mean number of revertants, standard deviation and mutagenic index values (

Conc. (mg/ml) O. pretoriensis O. pulchra

Salmonella typhimurium TA98 + S95 22.00 ± 1.73 (0.77) 26.33 ± 5.86 (0.92)0.5 25.67 ± 5.51 (0.90) 24.67 ± 3.05 (0.86)0.05 28.00 ± 4.36 (0.98) 22.67 ± 2.08 (0.79)0 28.60 ± 4.98 (1.00) Aflatoxin B1 (1 μg/ml)

Salmonella typhimurium TA100 + S95 104.67 ± 9.61 (0.76) 112.33 ± 7.09 (0.81)0.5 106.33 ± 14.84 (0.77) 113.33 ± 3.51 (0.82)0.05 104.00 ± 5.66 (0.75) 106.67 ± 4.16 (0.77)0 138.00 ± 21.66 (1.00) Aflatoxin B1 (1 μg/ml)

in test plate/# of revertants in negative control) were less than 2. Atest sample is considered to be mutagenic when the numbers of rever-tants in the test plate are two times or more than the number of rever-tants in the negative control.Moreover, a clear dose–response should beevident for the various concentrations assayed (Varella et al., 2004;Verschaeve and Van Staden, 2008).

4. Conclusion

Based on the results obtained from this study, the previously reportedhigh antibacterial activity of the five Ochna species may be a result ofnon-selective toxicity i.e. general toxicity. Because there were suchgood antimicrobial activities in vitro it may be worthwhile to confirmthe toxic effects in vivo if the extracts are to be used in a therapeuticcontext. If the extracts also have high in vivo toxicity, the extracts maystill be useful in topical applications to treat infections and wounds. Itis also possible that the safety/antimicrobial activity can be altered bysolvent–solvent fractionation (Eloff et al., 2005; Masoko et al., 2010).The extracts were not mutagenic in the Ames test with and withoutmetabolic activation. These results show the importance of determiningthe cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of medicinal plant extracts orphytocompounds before they are considered as remedies.

Acknowledgements

The National Research Foundation of South Africa, the Medical Re-search Council and theUniversity of Pretoria provided financial support.The Pretoria National Botanical Gardens, the LowveldNational BotanicalGardens in Nelspruit and the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardenallowed us to collect plant material. Prof CJ Botha (University ofPretoria) is thanked for providing aflatoxin B1.

yusing S. typhimuriumTA98 and TA100 tester strainswithmetabolic activation. The resultsin parentheses).

O. serrulata O. gamostigmata O. natalitia

27.00 ± 2.00 (0.94) 27.67 ± 6.03 (0.98) 26.33 ± 2.08 (0.92)26.67 ± 1.53 (0.93) 26.67 ± 2.52 (0.93) 28.33 ± 3.51 (0.99)26.67 ± 2.08 (0.93) 27.00 ± 2.52 (0.94) 25.67 ± 2.31 (0.90)415.30 ± 21.73 (14.52)

109.00 ± 1.39 (0.79) 111.67 ± 1.69 (0.81) 106.00 ± 7.00 (0.77)105.67 ± 5.69 (0.77) 110.33 ± 4.16 (0.80) 105.33 ± 4.16 (0.76)102.33 ± 2.08 (0.74) 123.33 ± 1.58 (0.89) 113.30 ± 6.11 (0.82)1418.67 ± 33.54 (10.28)

Page 5: In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of five Ochna species (Ochnaceae) with excellent antibacterial activity

13T.J. Makhafola et al. / South African Journal of Botany 91 (2014) 9–13

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