Mutagenicity and antimutagenicity of (−)-hinokinin a trypanosomicidal compound measured by Salmonella microsome and comet assays

摘要

BackgroundThe dibenzylbutyrolactone lignan (−)-hinokinin (HK) was derived by partial synthesis from (−)-cubebin, isolated from the dry seeds of the pepper, Piper cubeba. Considering the good trypanosomicidal activity of HK and recalling that natural products are promising starting points for the discovery of novel potentially therapeutic agents, the aim of the present study was to investigate the (anti) mutagenic∕ genotoxic activities of HK.