Hindawi Publishing Corporation ISRN Toxicology Volume 2013, Article ID 521432, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/521432 Research Article Influence of Mikania laevigata Extract over the Genotoxicity Induced by Alkylating Agents Daliane Medeiros Mazzorana, 1 Vanessa Nicolau, 2 Jeverson Moreira, 2 Patrícia de Aguiar Amaral, 2 and Vanessa Moraes de Andrade 1 1 Laborat´ orio de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Programa de P´ os-Graduac ¸˜ ao em Ciˆ encias da Sa´ ude, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense (UNESC), Avenida Universit´ aria 1105, Bairro Universit´ ario, 88806-000 Crici´ uma, SC, Brazil 2 Grupo de Estudos Etnofarmacol´ ogicos Visando ` a Obtenc ¸˜ ao de Substˆ ancias Bioativas, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense (UNESC), Avenida Universit´ aria 1105, Bairro Universit´ ario, 88806-000 Crici´ uma, SC, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Vanessa Moraes de Andrade; vmoraesdeandrade@yahoo.com.br Received 29 December 2012; Accepted 23 January 2013 Academic Editors: F. Ducancel, H. Pan-Hou, and F.-Y. Yu Copyright © 2013 Daliane Medeiros Mazzorana et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Medicinal plants are still widely used worldwide; yet for some species, little or no information is available concerning their biological activity, specially their genotoxic and antimutagenic potential. Mikania laevigata (Asteraceae) is a native plant from South America, and its extracts are largely used to treat respiratory complaints. he aim of the present work was then to evaluate, in vivo, the potential biological activity of M. laevigata on the genotoxicity induced by methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) and cyclophosphamide (CP), using the comet assay. Male CF1 mice were divided into groups of 5-6 animals, received by gavage 0.1mL/10g body wt of water, Mikania laevigata extract (MLE), MMS, and CP. Results showed that treatment with 200 mg/kg of the MLE previously to MMS and CP administration, respectively, reduced the damage index (DI) in 52% and 60%, when compared to DI at 24 h. Pretreatment also reduced the damage frequency (DF) in 56% (MMS) and 58% (CP), compared to DF at 24 h. MLE administration has been shown to protect mouse DNA from damage induced by alkylating agents; this corroborates to the biological activities of M. laevigata and points towards the need of plant compounds isolation to proceed with further studies. 1. Introduction he diversity of plant species in Brazil is a potential source of biologically active compounds. he use of medicinal plants is a generalized practice in folk medicine for the treatment of diferent types of diseases [1–4], and they are promising sources for the discovery of novel potentially therapeutic agents [5]. However, in the majority of cases, there is no proof of the eicacy of treatment popular use, nor there has been an adequate evaluation of medicinal plants for possible adverse efects [6]. Among various medicinal plants used in Brazil stands out Mikania genus plant (Asteraceae family), a subscrub creeper of woody branches, known popularly as “guaco” [7]. he genus Mikania includes around 450 species, many of which are found in Brazil and other South American countries, besides tropical regions of Asia and Africa [8]. Although the species considered in the Farmacopeia Brasileira is the Mikania glomerata (in the use of syrup), the Mikania laevigata is the common one commercialized due to similarities to both internal and external morphology, majority of chemical substances (coumarin), and the same habitat [9]. Mikania laevigata has been widely used as infusions or plasters, while the crude extract of this species is commonly commercialized as phytomedicine, mainly to treat inlamma- tory disorders, such as bronchitis, chronic lung diseases, and bronchial asthma [10]. Among other efects that have been described to the Mikania laevigata are anti-inlammatory, antioedematogenic [11], antiulcerogenic [12], antimicrobial [13, 14], antispasmodic, and bronchodilatory [15].