The mutagenic, antimutagenic and antioxidant properties of Hypericum lydium

There is a growing market demand for Hypericum sp., a pharmacologically active plant that has been traditionally used to treat various ailments. However, there have been limited studies on the extract or essential oil of Hypericum lydium Boiss (Hypericaceae).

This study investigates for the first time the antioxidant, mutagenic and antimutagenic activity of an ethanol extract of H. lydium.

Ethanol extract from aerial parts of H. lydium harvested from Turkey were tested for this mutagenic and antimutagenic activities (2.0-0.002 mg/plate) using Ames Salmonella/microsome test system. 4-Nitro-o-phenylenediamine (4-NPD) (3 μg/plate) for the Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and sodium azide (NaN₃) (8 μg/plate) for the S. typhimurium TA100 were used as positive controls. The antioxidant activity, total antioxidant activity and phenolic constituent of the extract (2.0-0.002 mg/mL) was determined by the inhibition of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), β-carotene-linoleic acid model and by means of Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, respectively.

The extract showed no sign of mutagenicity at the tested concentrations (0.002-2.0 mg/mL), and showed concentration-dependent antimutagenic activity against NaN₃ and 4-NPD ranging from 26.8 to 81.5%. The extract was found to be an efficient scavenger of DPPH (IC₅₀ 0.165 ± 0.23 mg/mL) and to inhibit β-carotene-linoleic acid bleaching (IC₅₀ 0.39 ± 0.11 mg/mL).

These findings indicate ethanol extract of H. lydium to be a safe and effective agent that may be incorporated into new strategies for the prevention of cancer and mutagenesis.