EVALUATION OF THE ANTIGENOTOXIC POTENTIAL OF Xanthoparmelia somloensis LICHEN EXTRACT IN HUMAN LYMPHOCYTES

Year 2025, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 142 - 154, 30.12.2025

Erhan Mustafa Akarsu , Halit Kızılet , Pinar Aksu Kılıçle , Ali Aslan

https://doi.org/10.51477/mejs.1661476

Abstract

Environmental pollutants and genotoxic agents pose serious risks to human health and the ecosystem through DNA damage. This study aimed to evaluate the protective potential of the aqueous extract of Xanthoparmelia somloensis (XSG) lichen against ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) and mitomycin-C (MMC) induced genotoxicity by in vitro micronucleus (MN) test. The genotoxic effects of EMS and MMC and the antigenotoxic activity of XSG extract were analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes taken from healthy donors. In the experimental groups determined by preliminary experiments, negative control (distilled water), positive controls (3 μg/ml EMS and MMC) and combinations containing different concentrations (30, 60, 120 μg/ml) of XSG extract were used.
According to the results, MN percentages were significantly higher in EMS and MMC applied groups compared to negative control (p<0.05). XSG water extract did not show genotoxic effect when applied alone, but reduced MN frequency dose-dependently in combination with EMS and MMC. Especially 120 μg/ml XSG extract exhibited the highest antigenotoxic effect by reducing EMS-induced MN by 65.7% and MMC-induced MN by 71.7%.
The protective mechanism of XSG may be related to the scavenging of free radicals and modulation of DNA repair pathways through antioxidant components (e.g. usnic acid). These findings reveal the potential of XSG as a broad-spectrum antigenotoxic agent and contribute to the development of natural protective strategies.

Keywords

Genotoxicity , Xanthoparmelia somloensis , Micronucleus test , Antigenotoxic effect , DNA repair

Ethical Statement

The study was approved by the Kafkas University Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee with the approval numbered 27.04.2017/97.

Supporting Institution

none

Project Number

none

Thanks

none

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