1. Antimutagenic and antioxidant effects of a South African traditional formulation used as an immune booster
- Author
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Mlungisi Ngcobo, Nceba Gqaleni, and Victor Ndlovu
- Subjects
traditional medicines ,regulations ,genotoxicity ,antioxidants ,immune cells ,Science ,Science (General) ,Q1-390 ,Social Sciences ,Social sciences (General) ,H1-99 - Abstract
The traditional medicines sector in South Africa is still largely unregulated despite legislation aimed at regulating the practice being in place. The HIV and AIDS epidemic has fuelled demand for traditional medicines, with many patients consulting traditional health practitioners who offer different treatments, including herbal immune boosters. This study investigated the mutagenic and antioxidant effects of the widely sold herbal immune booster, uMakhonya®. The Ames test was used for analysis of the genototoxic effects while the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assay was used to evaluate cell cytotoxicity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and THP-1 monocytes. To evaluate the antioxidant effects the malondialdehyde (MDA) quantification, the nitric oxide and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assays were used. UMakhonya® doses of up to 5000 μg/mL were not genotoxic in the Ames test. UMakhonya® was shown to induce dose-dependent cytotoxicity in both PBMCs and THP-1 cells with doses ranging from 500 μg/ mL to 1000 μg/mL, showing significant (p
- Published
- 2016
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