Genotoxicity of dried Hoodia parviflora aerial parts

• Published in: Food and chemical toxicology 2013-05, Vol.55, p.272-278
• Main Authors: Lynch, Barry, Lau, Annette, Baldwin, Nigel, Hofman-Hüther, Hana, Bauter, Mark R., Marone, Palma Ann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: aerial parts; Ames; Animals; Apocynaceae - chemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biotransformation; chromosome aberrations; cytotoxicity; dietary supplements; Escherichia coli; exposure duration; Genotoxicity; glycosides; Hoodia; Hoodia parviflora; humans; in vitro studies; liver; lymphocytes; Medical sciences; Micronucleus; Mutagenicity Tests; Mutagens - toxicity; mutation; plant extracts; Plant Structures; Rats; Safety; Salmonella Typhimurium; Salmonella typhimurium - genetics; Toxicology; weight loss
• ISSN: 0278-6915; 1873-6351
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.01.014

► Dried Hoodia parviflora powder may have utility as a weight loss aid; evaluated for genotoxic activity. ► Dried H. parviflora powder tested in in vitro bacterial mutation and mammalian cell cytogenetic assays. ► Under the test conditions employed, dried H. parviflora powder showed no evidence of genotoxic activity. Hoodia parviflora is being developed commercially for use in weight loss food and dietary supplement products. Its effects are ascribed to a number of glycosides that have been shown to be present in plant extracts from several Hoodia species, the best known of which is H. gordonii. H. parviflora has been identified as an alternative to H. gordonii, and, as part of the process to develop H. parviflora, in vitro genotoxicity tests, as recommended by recent European Food Safety Authority guidance, were conducted on a dried powder preparation of H. parviflora aerial parts. The preparation was tested for reverse mutation at doses up to 5,000μg/plate in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98, TA100, TA1535, and TA1537, and in Escherichia coli WP2 uvrA TA, both in the presence and in the absence of an exogenous source of metabolic activation (rat liver S9). In addition, the dried powder was evaluated in an in vitro cytotoxicity chromosome aberration assay using human lymphocytes. Test conditions included both a 4 (up to 2500μg/mg) and 44-h exposure period (up to 1000μg/mg) and the incorporation of an exogenous source of metabolic activation (4-h exposure only). H. parviflora dried powder was non-genotoxic in both in vitro assays.