Journal of Agricultural Science; Vol. 9, No. 13; 2017 ISSN 1916-9752 E-ISSN 1916-9760 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 62 The Mutagenicity and Antimutagenicity of Canarium odontophyllum (Dabai) Acetone Leaves Extracts Ahmad Rohi Ghazali 1 , Farah Mardhiah Khairuddin 1 , Tava Shelan Nagapan 1 & Dayang Fredalina Basri 1 1 Biomedical Science Programme, School of Diagnostic and Applied Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Correspondence: Ahmad Rohi Ghazali, Biomedical Science Programme, School of Diagnostic and Applied Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Kuala Lumpur 50300, Malaysia. Tel: 60-19-226-8976. E-mail: rohi@ukm.edu.my Received: October 3, 2017 Accepted: December 10, 2017 Online Published: December 31, 2017 doi:10.5539/jas.v9n13p62 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/jas.v9n13p62 Abstract Canarium odontophyllum or locally known as Dabai in Sarawak is a fruit largely consumed by the locals. Based on previous studies, the plant possessed various biological activities, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal and anticancer. Our aim was to investigate the mutagenicity and antimutagenicity of C. odontophyllum acetone leaves extracts by using the Ames test (Salmonella reverse mutagenicity assay).The Ames test also involved the pre-incubation method against Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 bacterial strains in the absence and presence of metabolic activator S9 system. C. odontophyllum crude acetone extracts were diluted with 10% DMSO to obtain three different concentrations of 3.125, 12.5 and 50 mg/ml. To determine the mutagenicity effects of the extracts, each concentration of the extract was evaluated based on the two-fold value of the number of revertant’s colony in negative control plate as the cut-of point. No mutagenic activity was observed for the frameshift mutation (TA98) and base-pair substitution mutation (TA100) in all concentrations of C. odontophyllum in the presence and absence of metabolic activator S9 system. Antimutagenicity test was carried out to determine the potential of C. odontophyllum extracts to inhibit the mutation induced by specific mutagens. The highest antimutagenic activity was seen in the presence of metabolic activator S9 system with inhibition percentage greater than 50% in both bacteria strains TA98 (62.38%) and TA100 (58.24%). In conclusion, C. odontophyllum acetone leaves extract was not mutagenic and had significant inhibitory effects on mutagenicity in both bacterial strains with and without the metabolic activator S9 system. Our results could contribute to the safe use of C. odontophyllum. In addition, based on the significant antimutagenic activity demonstrated by the C. odontophyllum acetone leaves extracts, the extract could also be developed as a chemopreventive agent. Keywords: Canarium odontophyllum, dabai, mutagenic, antimutagenic 1. Introduction Natural products are rich source of biological active compounds. Many medicines are either obtained directly from a natural source or were developed from a lead compound originally obtained from a natural source. They have been used as traditional medicine since ancient time by the old generations. Natural products can also be obtained from five different sources such as the plant kingdom, microorganisms, animal sources, marine, venom and toxin. However, among those five sources, plant is the main source of drug development. It is estimated that approximately 80% of the world population use plant extracts as traditional medicine for their primary health care needs (Craig, 1999). It was stated that about 25% of the drugs prescribed worldwide would come from plants and 11% from 252 drugs considered as basic and essential by the World Health Organization (WHO) are mainly originated from plant sources (Rates, 2001). Nowadays people are turning into the use of natural sources as an alternative for treatment of diseases. One of the potential natural sources is C. odontophyllum. Locally it is known as dabai in Sarawak, and also called as ‘Sibu Olive’ by the local population in Sibu, Sarawak due to its physical appearance is similar to the olive fruit (Ding & Tee, 2011). It can be found abundant in East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) especially in Sibu, Kanowit and Kapit (Azlan et al., 2009). The plant can also be found in Indonesia (Kalimantan and Sumatera) as well as in Palawan, the Philippines.