Baccharis dracunculifolia De Candole (Asteraceae), a native plant from the Brazilian "cerrado", is widely used in
folk medicine as an
anti-inflammatory agent and for the treatment of
gastrointestinal diseases. B. dracunculifolia has been described as the most important plant source of
propolis in southeastern Brazil, which is called green
propolis due to its color. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the mutagenic and
antimutagenic effects of the
ethyl acetate extract of B. dracunculifolia leaves (Bd-EAE) on Chinese hamster ovary cells. On one hand, the results showed a significant increase in the frequencies of
chromosome aberrations at the highest Bd-EAE concentration tested (100 microg/mL). On the other hand, the lowest Bd-EAE concentration tested (12.5 micro/mL) significantly reduced the chromosome damage induced by the chemotherapeutic agent
doxorubicin. The present results indicate that Bd-EAE has the characteristics of a so-called Janus compound, that is, Bd-EAE is mutagenic at higher concentrations, whereas it displays a chemopreventive effect on
doxorubicin-induced mutagenicity at lower concentrations. The constituents of B. dracunculifolia responsible for its mutagenic and
antimutagenic effects are probably
flavonoids and phenylpropanoids, since these compounds can act either as
pro-oxidants or as
free radical scavengers depending on their concentration.