Phyto-cytogenotoxic potential assessment of two medicinal plants: <i>Davilla nitida</i> (Vahl) Kubitzki and <i>Davilla elliptica</i> (A. St.-Hill) (Dilleniaceae)

Humans have been using plants in the treatment of various diseases for millennia. Currently, even with allopathic medicines available, numerous populations globally still use plants for therapeutic purposes. Although plants constitute a safer alternative compared to synthetic agents, it is well established that medicinal plants might also exert adverse effects. Thus, the present investigation aimed to assess the phytotoxic, cytotoxic, and genotoxic potential of two plants from the Brazilian Cerrado used in popular medicine, <i>Davilla nitida</i> (Vahl) Kubitzki, and <i>Davilla elliptica</i> (A. St.-Hil.). To this end, germination, growth, and cell cycle analyses were conducted using the plant model <i>Lactuca sativa</i>. Seeds and roots were treated with 0.0625 to 1 g/L for 48 hr under controlled conditions. The germination test demonstrated significant phytotoxic effects for both species at the highest concentrations tested, while none of the extracts produced significant effects in the lettuce growth test. In the microscopic analyses, the aneugenic and cytotoxic action of <i>D. elliptica</i> was evident. In the case of <i>D. nitida</i> greater clastogenic action and induction of micronuclei, (MN) were noted suggesting that the damage initiated by exposure to these extracts was not repaired or led to apoptosis. These findings indicated that the observed plant damage was transmitted to the next generation of cells by way of MN. These differences in the action of the two species may not be attributed to qualitative variations in the composition of the extracts as both are similar, but to quantitative differences associated with synergistic and antagonistic interactions between the compounds present in these extracts.