Anticarcinogenic and antimutagenic activity of Alstonia scholaris on the albino mice bone marrow cells and peripheral human lymphocyte culture against methyl methane sulfonate induced genotoxicity

BACKGROUND: The use of medicinal plants in modern medicine for the prevention and treatment of cancer is an important aspect. For this reason, it is important to identify antitumor promoting agents present in medicinal plants commonly used by the human population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used in vivo and in vitro methods using chromosomal aberrations (CAs), sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and replication index (RI) as markers, exposed by methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) as well as alcoholic extract of Alstonia scholaris in five increasing concentrations (200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 mg/kg body weight for in vivo and 150, 200, 250 and 300 μg/ml of culture) and of three different durations of 24, 48 and 72 h in the presence as well absence of S(9) mix. RESULTS: Extracts of Alstonia reduces the total aberrant cells ranges from 10.0% to 41.84% and frequencies of aberration in the aberrant cells ranges from 220 to 124 against 290 aberrations causes due to MMS in vivo. Similarly in the in vitro, it reduces CAs (39.62%, 32.83%, and 38.48%) and (45.31%, 44.46%, and 38.34%) at 24, 48, and 72 h of exposure respectively; in the absence as well as presence of liver S(9) fraction. It also reduces SCE from 7.70 to 4.20 per cell and enhances RI from 1.45 to 1.64. CONCLUSION: Extracts of Alstonia significantly reduces the number of aberrant cells and frequency of aberration per cell at each concentration and duration of exposure in vivo; and CAs and SCE in vitro and enhances RI.