Abstract—Use of natural plant extracts to prevent the damage potency of various mutagens is on the rise. The aims of our study were: i) to evaluate the biological activity of Salvia officinalis (sage) water extract and its ability to reduce the zeocin-induced cytotoxic/genotoxic effects in Hordeum vulgare (barley) and human lymphocytes, ii) to obtain information about the susceptibility of plant chromosomes on the basis of “aberration hot spots” (AHS) under various experimental conditions of treatment. Sage extract had no or low cytotoxic effect and its clastogenic effects were clearly dependent on the concentration and test-systems. Lymphocytes were more susceptible to sage extract than barley. Sage extract applied in a higher but low-toxic concentration showed well expressed protective potential against zeocin. It decreased the chromosome aberrations and micronuclei induced by zeocin in both testsystems. The protective effect was manifested irrespective of the experimental design and test-systems. All AHS were found to be within heterochromatin-containing or terminal segments when barley meristems were treated with the radiomimetic. AHS were reduced and no longer located in heterochromatin-rich regions after sage treatment following different experimental designs. Our results might be useful in future health research programs and prophylactic therapy based on plant extracts.

Index Terms—Salvia officinalis, plant extract, chromosome aberrations, micronuclei, anti-cytototoxicity/antigenotoxicity, test-systems

Cite: Svetla Gateva, Gabriele Jovtchev, Alexander Stankov, and Fridrich Gregan, "Salvia Extract Can Decrease DNA Damage Induced by Zeocin," International Journal of Pharma Medicine and Biological Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-10, January 2015.