Polyphenolic contents of Teucrium polium L. and Teucrium scordium L. associated with their protective effects against MMC-induced chromosomal damage in cultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes.

Teucrium species have been used in traditional medicine for treatment of different diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate polyphenolic contents by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the genotoxic effect of methanolic extracts of Teucrium polium and Teucrium scordium using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay on human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from healthy donors. The HPLC  analysis  showed that extracts consist of phenolic acid (gallic, vanillic, caefic, chlorogenic, p-coumaric, sinapic) and flavonoids (catechin, rutin, myricetin, luteolin, quercetin and apigenin). Cultures were treated with extracts of both plants separately and in combinations with mitomycin C (MMC). In separate treatments, both herbal extracts significantly induced micronucleus (MN) frequency only at the highest concentrations. All concentrations of T. scordium , except the lowest, and all concentrations of T. polium extracts in combined treatment with MMC significantly reduced the frequency of MN. The extract of T. polium did not significantly aefct the nuclear division index (NDI), whereas T. scordium in higher concentrations, separately and in combined treatment with MMC, significantly decreased the NDI value. Our results suggest that both herbal extracts in combination with MMC have antimutagenic (T. polium) and proapoptotic effects (T. scordium), which indicates their protective effects in PBLs.