In vitro evaluation of Rheum ribes induced genotoxicity in HepG2 cell lines

Abstract

Rheum ribes is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Polygonaceae family that grows more on rocky and gravellyslopes in high altitude areas of Levant and Turkey. Rheum ribes is consumed as food and widely used in folk medicine againstnausea, constipation and for different diseases including diabetes and hypertension. Unfortunately, the research on Rheumribes toxicity is insufficient. In our study, the human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cell line was used in a cytotoxicityevaluation of Rheum ribes water, methanol and chloroform extracts by MTT and NRU tests. Comet assay was used to investigate the genotoxicity potentials of the plant extracts. Our results show that all extracts cause cell death in a concentrationdependent manner at 5-50 mg/mL concentrations. The IC50 values are 14.29-31.94 mg/mL by MTT and 21.15-27.66 mg/mL byNRU assay. The highest concentration (25 mg/mL) of methanol extract causes significant DNA damage (8.7-folds). In conclusion, similar to a lot of plants used in folk medicine the risk of Rheum ribes is still unknown. The uncontrolled use of this plantcould cause harm to the patients. Our results indicate the possible cyto- and gentoxicity effects of Rheum ribes, these resultsshould elevate concerns about the safety of Rheum ribes and other folk herbs.