Evaluation of the genotoxic potential of the Casearia sylvestris extract on HTC and V79 cells by the comet assay.

Casearia sylvestris is common in tropical America growing wild in Brazil in the states of Amazonas and São Paulo. Its leaves are used in Brazilian folk medicine for several diseases. The present investigation was carried out to examine the genotoxic effects of a C. sylvestris crude ethanolic extract on Hepatoma Tissue Culture (HTC cells) of Rattus norvegicus and Chinese hamster V79 cells in culture, using the comet assay. For the genotoxic evaluation the cells were treated with three different concentrations (0.5, 1 and 2 mg/ml) of extract prepared from a 25 mg/ml aqueous solution. The positive control was cyclophosphamide for HTC cells and methyl methanesulfonate for V79 cells. The duration of the treatment was 2 h. The results showed that the extract of C. sylvestris presented no genotoxic effects and not modified effect inducing DNA damage by alkylating agents cyclophosphamide and methyl methanesulfonate in HTC and V 79 cells respectivelly.