Emetine and/or its metabolites are genotoxic in somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster.

Emetine is one of the two active ingredients of syrup of ipecac which is used medicinally as antiparasitic and emetic, however little is known about its genotoxic activity. The goal of this study was to determine whether and how emetine and/or its metabolites might produce mitotic recombination using the in vivo Drosophila w/w+ eye somatic assay. A standard strain (which expresses basal levels of cytochrome P450 enzymes) and an insecticide-resistant strain (which constitutively over-expresses P450 genes) were employed. The results showed that emetine and/or its metabolites are active in the assay and that the genotoxic potential is significantly influenced in the presence of higher than normal concentrations of P450.