Scientific investigations on phytochemicals are to reveal safety or / and pharmacological potency of medicinal plant extracts. In this study, aqueous fraction of Myristica fragrans (AFMF) was administered into Swiss albino male mice for genotoxicity and antigenotoxicity evaluations following the sperm morphology assay. Male mice were orally administered with AFMF alone for genotoxicity test, while antigenotoxicity involved administration of cyclophosphamide (CP) at 50 mg/kg five minutes before oral administration of AFMF at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 mg/kg. Distilled water and cyclophosphamide were the negative and positive controls, respectively. Histopathology of the liver and kidney of mice administered with AFMF was determined. Elucidation and quantification of phytochemical in the AFMF was carried out using the ultra performance liquid chromatographic (UPLC) separation technique. The percentage of abnormal sperm induced by AFMF ranged between 7.25% and 13.75% at 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg, respectively. Suppression of the genotoxic effect of CP was 61.75% at 500 mg/kg and 38.99% at 2000 mg/kg. AFMF caused acute and chronic inflammations in the liver tissue whereas there was no adverse effect on the kidney tissue of the mice. Rutin was detected at 12 mg per gram of AFMF. These results suggest that rutin in AFMF was not significantly toxic to kidney and liver cells, as well as to the chromosomes in the sperm cells of Swiss albino mice. However, it showed a significant antigenotoxic activity in the Swisss albino male mice.
Key words: Phytochemicals; Myristica fragrans; sperm cell; genotoxicity and
antigenotoxicity
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