Antimutagenicity of mangiferin purified from Salacia chinensis Linn.

Mangiferin is a xanthone glucoside and an active phytochemical present in common principal constituent of Salacia species. Mangiferin was purified from methanolic root extract of Salacia chinensis. Mangiferin is recommended to treat immuno-deficiency diseases such as diabetes, hepatitis, arthritis, cardiac and mental disorders. Mangiferin was evaluated for antimutagenicity studies in order to confirm the safety of its usage. Mangiferin showed no mutagenicity up to 5 mg/plate when tested with Salmonella typhimurium TA97a, TA98, TA100, TA102 and TA1535 strains with or without metabolic activation. On the other hand mangiferin showed a significant protective effect against mutagenicity induced by mutagen in S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 strain with or without metabolic activation. The results of these studies indicate that mangiferin is non-mutagenic in Ames test, exhibit protection against the mutagenicity induced by 4-nitroquinolene-1-oxide, sodium azide and 2-aminoflourene in TA98 and TA100 strain