Mitodepressive and Genotoxic Potential of Crude Body Wall and Cuvierian Tubule Extracts of Mani-mani (Pearsonothuria graeffei Semper) on Root Meristems of Onion (Allium cepa L.)

Abstract

The need to discover novel natural products has resulted in several explorations in the marine environment. The biological compounds from aquatic resources can boost effort on drug development and may promote species conservation. In this study, the mitodepressive and genotoxic properties of the extracts obtained from Pearsonothuria graeffei – a widely distributed and poorly explored sea cucumber species – were evaluated using the Allium test. The sea cucumber body wall and cuvierian tubule crude methanol, ethyl acetate and n-hexane extracts were found to have potential genotoxic properties at concentrations of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 μg mL^-1. A significant (p < 0.05) growth inhibition in both length and the number of roots was exhibited at higher concentrations (1,000 and 1,500 μg mL^-1) of the crude extracts similar to the control mutagen. The 1,000 μg mL^-1 of cuvierian tubule methanol extract resulted in higher general toxicity in terms of root length inhibition than the control mutagen. A significantly lower mitotic index was exhibited in the crude body wall methanol extract at 500 μg mL^-1 concentration. Also, a higher percent chromosomal aberration (p < 0.05) was observed in onions treated with all concentrations of crude body wall ethyl acetate and n-hexane extracts, and 500 μg mL^-1 of the crude cuvierian tubule methanol and n-hexane extracts. In conclusion, the crude extracts of P. graeffei have mitodepressive and genotoxic properties, which are potential sources of bioactive compounds necessary for the development of treatment for some serious human diseases like cancer.