Bioassay-guided isolation of antimutagenic factors from fruits of Terminalia bellerica.

Abstract

In the course of our search for novel polyphenolic antimutagenic agents from medicinal plants, we examined water, acetone, and chloroform extracts of Terminalia bellerica for their antimutagenic potency using the Ames Salmonella/microsome assay. Acetone extract exhibited variable inhibitory activity of 65.6%, and 69.7% with 4-O-nitrophenylenediamine (NPD) and sodium azide, respectively (as direct-acting mutagens), and 81.4% with 2-aminofluorene (2AF) (an S9-dependent mutagen), in the preincubation mode of experimentation. Inhibition with chloroform and water extracts was rather insignificant. Studies are well underway to isolate and identify the active polyphenolic compounds from acetone extract, which could be used as effective chemopreventive agents in the future.