Evaluation of cytoprotective, antimutagenic/antirecombinogenic, antioxidant and antibacterial properties of endemic Centaurea kurdica and Centaurea spectabilis species in vivo and in vitro

Many chemicals, carcinogens and mutagens are exposed to in daily life. The identification of natural compounds that can reduce these harmful effects is an important need. Medicinal plants play an important role in this field both with their protective effects and with their contribution to the development of new drugs. Plants belonging to the Asteraceae, Rosaceae and Lamiaceae families have antioxidant, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic and antimicrobial effects. These effects are mainly due to the fact that phenolic compounds neutralize reactive oxygen species. The determination of cytotoxic, antigenotoxic effects and antioxidant antibacterial capacity of Centaurea kurdica and Centaurea spectabilis species belonging to Asteraceae family has been studied with various in vivo and in vitro experiments. Phytochemical properties of plants were determined by LC/MS-MS method. DPPH and ABTS tests for antioxidant activity, MTS and JuLI viability tests were used to determine cytotoxic activities on lymphocyte cells, micronucleus test, chromosome aberration test and in vivo somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) were used to determine genotoxicity. Disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method were used for antibacterial activity. In addition, the in vivo antioxidant effects and toxicological effects of the extracts were also investigated using Drosophila melanogaster. When looking at the results, it was found that chlorogenic acid is the most abundant compound in Centaurea kurdica and Centaurea spectabilis plants as a result of LC/MS-MS. The highest antioxidant activity in both plants was observed in methanol extracts. All extracts did not show cytotoxic effect in the december of 0-100 mg/L, the most effective result was obtained with methanol extract. In the micronucleus results, it was found that the extract that inhibited the formation of micronucleus the most was water extract for both plants. In addition, the antibacterial activities of plants E.coli and S.aureus has been investigated against aureus bacteria and it has been seen that each sample forms an inhibition zone at different rates. Water extract showed the best result in in vivo toxicological effect test.