Evaluation of genotoxic potential of Hypericum triquetrifolium extract in somatic and germ cells of male albino mice

Hypericum triquetrifolium aqueous extract were studied for the first time for its toxic and the possible clastogenic effects in vivo on the bone marrow and spermatozoa cells of Swiss albino mice. The lethal dose of the aqueous extract was considered to be 10.33 g/kg of the body weight, injected subcutaneously. The doses which were chosen for treatments were 2, 1, and 0.25 g/kg. H. triquetrifolium extract induce statistically significant increases in the average numbers of micronucleus(MN) at the dose 2 g/kg and chromosome aberrations at the doses 2 and 1 g/kg ,the majority of aberrations observed were chromatid breaks, centromeric breaks, acentric fragments. The extract was found to inhibit mitotic index (MI) in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover the plant extract showed a significant induction of sperm abnormalities in all concentrations used comparing with the untreated animals. The most frequent types of sperm abnormalities of the treated groups were; amorphous, pseudo-droplet defect, bent mid piece defect and corkscrew mid piece defect. However, the lowest dose 0.25 g/kg body weight was the most effective one which markedly increased the corkscrew midpiece defect. The results indicated that the mixture of the compounds found in the aqueous extract caused cytotoxicity and induced different cytogenetic effects in both somatic and germ cells of male albino mice.