Antimutagenic and Cytotoxic Effects of Aster scaber Root Ethanol Extract

This study was performed to determine the antimutagenic and cytotoxic effect of Aster scaber root ethanol extract on Salmonella typhymurium TA98, TA100 and cancer cell lines using Ames test and cytotoxicity assay, respectively. Cancer cell lines include chronic myelogenous leukemia(K562), human gastric carcinoma(KATOIII), human hepatocellular carcinoma(Hep3B) and human breast adenocarcinoma(MCF-7). Futher fractionations with hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and water from ethanol extract of Aster scaber root were performed to obtain effective fraction. Ethanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction showed 79% and 82% inhibitory effect on the mutagenesis induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine(MNNG) against TA100, while 48% and 60% inhibition was observed on the mutagenesis induced by 4-nitroquinoline-l-oxide(4NQO) against TA98. In the meanwhile, ethyl acetate fraction showed 78% and 85% inhibitory effect on the mutagenesis induced by benzo()pyrene[B()P] against TA98 and TA100, respectively, while 83% inhibition was observed on the mutagenesis induced by 3-amino-l,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido(4,3-b) indole(Trp-P-1) against TA98. Ethyl acetate fraction (0.125 mg/ml) showed the strongest cytotoxic effect against K562, KATOIII, Hep3B and MCF-7 at the same concentration compared to those of other fractions. Ethanol extract and water fraction showed the least inhibitory effect.