LACK OF MICRONUCLEUS INDUCTION BY SOBATUM IN BONE-MARROW ERYTHROCYTESOF SWISS MICE

The plant Solanum trilobatum is mainly used for asthma, chronic febril e affections and difficult parturition. The active principle (Sobatum) obtained from the petroleum ether extract of the plant was proved as an anticancer agent by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Here, an effo rt was made to evaluate the induction of micronucleus by the Sobatum i n the bone marrow of swiss mice. The micronucleus assay was conducted after 24 and 72 h of second administration of the Sobatum. The first s et of experiments (24 h after second administration) consisted of 4 gr oups with 3 male Swiss albino mice each. The first group (as control) received only dimethyl sulfoxide, the second, third and fourth groups received different doses of the Sobatum (100, 200, 400 mg/kg body weig ht), and the fifth group (as positive control) received cyclophosphami de (100 mg/kg body weight) by i.p. injection. In the second set of exp eriment (72 h after the second administration) consisting of 5 groups, the first, as control, received dimethyl sulfoxide, the second, third and fourth groups received different concentrations of the Sobatum (1 00, 200, 400 mg/kg body weight), and the fifth group as positive contr ol received cyclophosphamide (100 mg/kg body weight). All the animals of the first and second sets of experiment were killed 24 and 72 h aft er the second medication (2 consecutive days), and bone marrow smears were prepared, stained with May-Grunwald and Giemsa stain, and evaluat ed for the evidence of micronucleus, The study concluded that the Soba tum fails to influence the induction of micronuclei in bone marrow ery throcytes of mice 24 and 72 h after the second administration, thereby proving that Sobatum to has no cytogenetic toxic potential.