Antimutagenic effect of sage tea in the wing spot test of Drosophila melanogaster

• Published in: Food and chemical toxicology Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 180 - 183
• Main Authors: Patenkovic, Aleksandra, Stamenkovic-Radak, Marina, Banjanac, Tijana, Andjelkovic, Marko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; antimutagenic activity; Antimutagenic Agents - chemistry; Antimutagenic Agents - pharmacology; Antimutagenicity; Beverages; Biological and medical sciences; Drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster; Genetic Techniques; herbal tea; Medical sciences; methyl methanesulfonate; Mutagens - toxicity; plant extracts; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plant Leaves; sage; Salvia officinalis; Salvia officinalis - chemistry; SMART test; tea; Toxicology; wings; SMART test; MMS; SMART; Antimutagenicity; Salvia officinalis; Drosophila; Antimutagen; Insecta; Drosophilidae; Tea; Labiatae; Arthropoda; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Flavoring crop; Spermatophyta; Invertebrata; Drosophila melanogaster; Diptera
• ISSN: 0278-6915; 1873-6351
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2008.10.024

The present study assayed the antimutagenic potential of
Salvia officinalis (sage) in the form of tea infusion, by the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) on
Drosophila melanogaster. The use of herbal infusions is much common in the human diet, so the aim of the present study was to estimate the antimutagenic effects of the
S. officinalis tea rather than essential oils. Methyl methanesulphonate (MMS) was used as the mutagen and positive control. Several types of treatment were performed: short acute treatment with sage infusion or MMS, longer (chronic) treatment with sage solution or MMS, and two combined treatments, i.e. short treatment with sage followed by a longer treatment with MMS and
vice versa. Sage infusion used in our experiments showed a clear antimutagenic effect, reducing the frequency of mutations induced by MMS. The inhibition effect of sage tea is obtained and confirmed when pre- or post-treatments with mutagen were used. The results indicate that although sage in this regime decreases the number of mutation events, it is not efficient enough in case of the 2
h sage pre-treatment. Antioxidant activity, suppression of metabolic activation, could be mechanisms through which sage or some of its components act as desmutagen.