Resumo

Introduction: The Brazilian cerrado contain several native plants used in folk medicine for treating many diseases. The genus Byrsonima is one of them. There are several reports of its use: the treatment of fungal and bacterial infections, tuberculosis, chronic wounds, Chagas, as a diuretic and antiemetic. The phytochemical profile shows tannins, flavonoids, triterpenes, aromatic esters, and others, which indicates the pharmacological potential of this genus. Another studied plant was Terminalia catappa. It is used in folk medicine as antidiarrhoeal, antipyretic, and has hepatoprotective activity, antiinflammatory and anti-HIV reverse transcriptase activity. Although these plants are widely used by population in folk medicine, there aren’t studies to ensure the safety of their uses. The aim of this study was to investigate the mutagenicity of standardized ethanolic extracts of B. coccolobifolia and T. catappa by Ames Test. Materials and methods: The Ames Test was performed according to preincubation assay, in absence and presence of metabolic activation system, using five concentrations of each sample, in triplicates, with TA98, TA97, TA100 and TA102 strains of Salmonella typhimurium. The concentrations of extracts, in mg/plate, varied 0.52-16.0 for B. coccolobifolia and 1.56-22.24 for T. catappa. Discussion of results: The mutagenicity test demonstrated mutagenic activity by inducing a significative increase of revertant mutations. B. coccolobifolia, in absence of metabolic activation, presented mutagenic activity to TA98 strain. In presence of metabolic activation, it induced mutagenic activity to TA98 and TA97a strains. T. catappa presented mutagenic activity to TA100 and TA97 strains, in absence of metabolic activation, and presented evidences of mutagenic activity to TA102 strain, in presence and absence of metabolic activation. Conclusion: These data suggest that although folk medicine has many benefits, it can also cause damage to genetic material. Thus, it is recommended that a detailed assessment about the safety of medicinal plants used popularly. Financial support: FAPESP and CNPq