Artemisinin is a substance extracted from the Chinese plant Artemisia annua L., and widely used in natural medicine for a treatment of various diseases. Artemether is a substance synthesized from artemisinin. These drugs belong to a special group of molecules called sesquiterpene lactones widely administered in the treatment of malaria. Although considered effective anti-malarial drugs, very little is known about the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of these drugs. Therefore, in the present study, we evaluated the genotoxic, mutagenic and cytotoxic effects of artemisinin and artemether in cultured human lymphocytes using the comet assay, the micronucleus test and a cytotoxicity assay for detection of necrosis and apoptosis by fluorescent differential acridine orange/ethidium bromide (LA/BE), respectively. Our results showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in the rate of DNA damage measured by comet assay and in the micronucleus frequency after treatment with both drugs. It was also observed that only artemisinin induced a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in the number of lymphocytes with death by necrosis 48 h after treatment. Thus, it was shown in our work that these two drugs exert mutagenic, genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in cultured human lymphocytes under the conditions evaluated. Our data indicate the need for caution in the use of such drugs, since genotoxic/mutagenic effects may increase the risk of carcinogenesis.
|
