Institute for Biological Research Siniša Stanković, Department of Genetics of Populations and Ecogenotoxicology, University of Belgrade, Bul. despota Stefana 142, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2013 Mar 27;146(2):632-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2013.01.027. Epub 2013 Feb 4.
Gentiana lutea L., the yellow gentian, is herb known for its pharmacological properties, with a long tradition of use for the treatment of a variety of diseases including the use as a remedy for digestion, also in food products and in bitter beverages. The aim of the present study is to evaluate, for the first time, genotoxicity of gentian alone, and its antigenotoxicity against methyl methanesulfonate (MMS).
The water infusion of the underground part of gentian were evaluated in vivo using the Drosophila wing spot test, at the dose commonly used in traditional medicine. For antigenotoxic study two types of treatment with gentian and MMS were performed: chronic co-treatment, as well as post-treatment with gentian after acute exposure with MMS.
Water infusion of gentian alone did not exhibit genotoxicity. The results of co- and post-treatment experiments with gentian show that gentian enhanced the frequency of mutant clones over the values obtained with MMS alone, instead of reducing the genotoxicity of MMS, for 22.64% and 27.13% respectively.
This result suggests a synergism of gentian with MMS, and indicates that water infusion of gentian used in traditional medicine may have particular effects with regard to genotoxicity indicating careful use.
龙胆（Gentiana lutea L.），黄色龙胆，是一种具有药理特性的草药，长期以来一直被用于治疗各种疾病，包括消化问题的治疗，也用于食品和苦味饮料。本研究的目的是首次评估龙胆本身的遗传毒性及其对甲磺酸甲酯（MMS）的抗原毒性。
使用果蝇翅斑试验在体内评估龙胆地下部分的水提取物，剂量为传统医学中常用的剂量。为了进行抗原毒性研究，对龙胆和 MMS 进行了两种类型的处理：慢性共同处理，以及在用 MMS 急性暴露后用龙胆进行的后期处理。
龙胆单独的水提取物没有表现出遗传毒性。龙胆的共同和后期处理实验的结果表明，龙胆分别使突变克隆的频率增加了 22.64%和 27.13%，超过了单独用 MMS 获得的值，而不是降低了 MMS 的遗传毒性。
这一结果表明龙胆与 MMS 之间存在协同作用，并表明传统医学中使用的龙胆水提取物可能对遗传毒性具有特殊影响，需要谨慎使用。
