Mutagenicity testing of two tropical plant materials with pesticidal potential in Salmonella typhimurium: Phytolacca dodecandra berries and oil from seeds of Azadirachta indica.

In this study the mutagenic potential of two tropical plant materials was investigated in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100. The oil extract from seeds of Azadirachta indica showed no mutagenic activity in either strain with or without addition of metabolizing systems. When extracts of Phytolacca dodecandra berries were tested, only the butanol extract caused direct mutagenicity in TA98. After addition of rat liver homogenate, again only the butanol extract was positive in TA98. Addition of gut flora extract as metabolizing system generated positive effects in both the methanol extract and the butanol extract. The water extract showed only a slight positive effect, which can most probably be ascribed to the presence of histidine in the sample.