Context: Scutellaria lindbergii Rech. f. (Lamiaceae) is an Iranian species of Scutellaria which has been shown to exert antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic effects.
Objective: The protective properties of total methanol extract (TME) of S. lindbergii and its fractions (defatted and CH2Cl2) were investigated against cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of H2O2 in NIH 3T3 cell line as non-malignant cells.
Materials and methods: The cells were incubated with different concentrations of S. lindbergii root extracts [TME (15-250 μg ml(-)(1)), defatted fraction (15-500 μg ml(-)(1)) and CH2Cl2 fraction (5-40 μg ml(-)(1))] and toxic concentration of H2O2 (200 µM) at 37 °C for 2 h concurrently and Cell viability was quantitated by MTT assay. The antigenotoxic effect of extracts was investigated using comet assay. The cells were incubated with extracts [TME (25-250 μg ml(-)(1)), defatted fraction (25-500 μg ml(-)(1)) and CH2Cl2 fraction (5-40 μg ml(-)(1))] and H2O2 (25 µM) at 4 °C for 20 min, then the comet assay was performed. DNA damage was expressed as percentage tail DNA.
Results: Total methanol extract of S. lindbergii and its fractions had a significant inhibitory effect on DNA damage. The IC50 values of TME, defatted fraction and CH2Cl2 fraction against DNA damage were determined as 48, 138 and 8 μg ml(-)(1), respectively.
Conclusion: S. lindbergii extracts can prevent oxidative DNA damage, which is likely due to its flavonoids and phenolic compounds as antioxidant constituents.
Keywords: Anticytotoxicity; Lamiaceae; MTT assay; antigenotoxicity; comet assay; hydrogen peroxide.