Medicinal & Aromatic Plants
Open Access

Abstract

Evaluation of Cytotoxic and Genotoxic Effects of Datura stramonium Extracts on Cultured Human Lymphocytes

Zeynep Ülker Akal, Sezin Gürkan, Lokman Alpsoy and Abdulkadir Yildiz

Datura stramonium is a plant in the Datura genus, within the solanaceae family. The active ingredients are
atropine, hyoscyamine (levorotary isomer of atropine) and scopolamine which are classified as deliriants, or
anticholinergics used as a hallucinogen and internally to treat madness, epilepsy, and depression for centuries. Also these have pharmacological potential with a cracking ability and are used in folklore medicine. In this study, our aim is to identify the major component of D. stramonium by using HPLC. Also we determine the cytotoxic (Lactate dehydrogenease, (LDH) and cell proliferation (WST-1)), genotoxic (sister chromatid exchange (SCE)) and apoptotic (TUNEL assay) effects of D. stramonium methanolic seeds extract (DE) on human lymphocytes culture by using different test assays. According to our HPLC results, DE has atropine (935 μg/ml) and scopolamine (63.9 μg/ml) component. Although cytotoxicity tests results show that none of DE concentrations have cytotoxic effects on human lymphocytes, DE inhibited cell proliferation significantly (p<0.05) 24th and 48th hours. In addition, TUNEL assay results showed that the concentrations of DE cause apoptotic effects significantly (p<0.05). Also, SCE frequency increased when 125 μg/mL and 50 μg/mL concentration of DE added in the lymphocyte culture (p<0.05). Datura
stramonium has a great deal of biological effects. Since there is no study concerning its effect on healthy cells invitro in this study our main goal is to investigate Datura stramonium’s cytotoxic and genotoxic effects on human cultured lymphocytes. All of assays results suggested that the component of D. stramonium atropine and scopolamine, classified anti-cholinergic agents, have genotoxic, apoptotic and slight cytotoxic effects on human cultured lymphocytes.