AVALIAÇÃO DA CITOTOXICIDADE E MUTAGENICIDADE DAS FOLHAS DE Peperomia pellucida (L.) H.B.K.

Pellucida peperomia, commonly known as jabuti herb, little heart, glass herb, is used in popular medicine as an antibiotic, wound healing, abdominal pain, cramps, acnes, boils, headaches, kidney disorders and pains in the articulations. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the possible toxic and mutagenic effects of the aqueous extract (EA) of P. pellucida. The in vivo test of Allium cepa was used to determine cytotoxicity and mutagenicity, in which concentrations of 100 and 50% for AE were used. For the in vitro test with Artemia salina, the concentrations of 100, 50, 25, 12 and 6.25% were used, for analysis of the cytotoxic activity and determination of LD50. The cytotoxicity test resulted in an LD50 of 8799 µg/ mL for EA, which was considered to be non toxic or inactive. The A. strain strain demonstrated a reduction in root growth indicating cytotoxicity by EA. All treatments resulted in the presence of micronuclei, but there was a statistically insignificant difference in comparison to the positive control group. It was concluded that the extracts revealed cytotoxic and non-mutagenic effects, and there were no significant data regarding the mitotic index when compared to the controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]