Antiproliferative effect of the tree and medicinal species Luehea divaricata on the Allium Cepa cell cycle

The medicinal and tree species Luehea divaricata is known as ‘acoita-cavalo’ and widely used for wood, reclamation, and in popular medicine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antiproliferative and genotoxic effects of infusions of two populations of this species on the Allium cepa cell cycle. Cells of root tips of Allium cepa were used as an in vivo test system for monitoring the genotoxicity of this medicinal plant. Leaves and bark of two populations of Luehea divaricata were collected during the vegetative stage and used to prepare infusions in two concentrations: for the leaves (6 g/L and 30 g/L) and two concentrations for the bark (32 g/L and 160 g/L), using distilled water as negative control and glyphosate 3% as positive control. For this study, 10 groups of four bulbs were utilized, with one group of bulbs for each treatment. The slides were prepared by the squashing technique, scoring 4000 cells for each group of bulbs. The mitotic index (MI) was calculated and then a statistical analysis ...