Cytological effects of medicinal plants in Qatar. II. Mitotic effect of water extract of Teucrium pilosum on Allium cepa.

In this survey the effect of water extract of Teucrium pilosum on mitosis of Allium cepa was studied. Teucrium pilosum is a perrenial plant, not grazed by animals and its extract is used natively against constipation and as antispasmotic. Results and discussion Table 1 shows that the extract affected the mitotic index, percentage of phases and percentage of abnormal cells. Inhibition of mitotic index increased with increase of concentration and duration of treatment. In the higher concentration (10%), toxicity appeared, where the root lost its turgor and blackened after 1 h treatment. After recovery, the mitotic index decreased specially after longer periods of treatments. This means that 24 hours recovery were not enough for the roots to revive again. Toxicity appeared after recovery in 3 and 6 hours treatments of the 7% concentration. So these treatments had a lethal effect on Allium cepa roots. Accumulation of prophases on the expense of the other phases was observed after direct treatment. While they nearly regain their normal percentage after 24 hours recovery (Table 1). The higher percentage of anomalies observed was in the metaphase stage in both direct and recovery experiments. Prophase had the least percentage of abnormalities (Table 2). Fig. 1 shows disturbed prophase, where the arrangement of chromatic threads were abnormal. This abnormality was similar to that observed by Kabarity (1966) after treatment of Allium cepa roots with cardiazol and methyl benzoate. From the data gathered in Table 3 it is apparent that the most dominant abnormality after both direct and recovery treatments is the disturbed type. The disturbance is higher in metaphases than ana-telophases (Table 4). So the extract may be considered as a stathmokinetic agent.