Abstract
Aegle marmelos, plant known for its medicinal importance since ancient times and every part of the plant has been used for curing different diseases. In the present set of investigation, antimutagenic effect of Aegle marmelos bark (AMB) extract against Cyclophosphamide (CP) has been evaluated using in vivo Micronucleus (MN) and Chromosomal aberrations (CA) assay. Mice were categorized in to 6 different groups. Three groups were administered intraperitoneally (i.p) with different doses of AMB i.e. 450, 675 & 900 mg/kg body weight (b.w) 24 hours prior to CP treatement. The CP treated group, vehicle alone group and AMB control group were also included. AMB pretreatment resulted in a decreased frequency of MN and CA, whereas CP treated groups showed significant increase in DNA damage in the bone marrow as evidenced by an increase in the number of micronuclei and CA. AMB extract alone group could not induce any kind of gentoxicity. The protective effect of Aegle marmelos bark extract was found to be more protective at the test dose of 900 mg/kg b.w, indicating a dose dependent protective effect against CP induced gentoxicity. Thus, the present study revealed the antigenotoxic activity of AMB extract on micronuclei formation and chromosomal aberrations induced by CP.
