Pharmacology

Biography

Biography: Maria Aparecida Marin-Morales

Abstract

Hymenoptera venoms are constituted by a complex mixture of chemically or pharmacologically bioactive agents and that may also contain substances capable of inhibiting and/or decreasing the genotoxic action of other compounds that are able to induce damages in the genetic material. In this study we evaluated the cytotoxic, genotoxic and antigenotoxic activities of the venoms of the bee Apis mellifera and of the wasp Polybia paulista using the HepG2 test system. We used 3 concentrations that were considered non cytotoxic to evaluate the genotoxic potential of the venoms (comet assay and micronucleus test). It was observed that these concentrations were genotoxic, therefore we used lowest concentrations to assess the antigenotoxic effects. These new concentrations showed that both venoms, instead of inhibiting and/or diminishing the genotoxic effect of methylmethane sulfonate (substance used as positive control), increased even more the damages caused by this compound. It was also observed that both venoms were able to induce lipid peroxidation and alter the activities of some antioxidant enzymes (CAT, SOD, GST). Thus, the genotoxicity of the venoms could be caused by the induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that interacted with biological membranes and with the DNA of the exposed cells. From this study, we can conclude that the use of Hymenoptera venoms for pharmacological purposes, for example in the treatments of cancer, should be done with extreme caution, since it was observed that even very low concentratins of these bioactive compounds can induce genotoxicity for human cells, as observed in the HepG2 cells.