Genotoxicity and Toxicity of an Ethanolic Extract of Thai Plumbago Indica Roots in Human Lymphocytes in vitro

Plumbago (family plumbaginaceae) is an evergreen shrub with colored flowers widely grown in a tropical climate, especially in Southeast Asia, South Asia and South African. There are many species of Plumbago e.g. Plumbago indica L., syn. Plumbago rosea with red flowers, Plumbago zeylanica with white flowers and Plumbago auriculata with blue flowers. Their major ingredients are napthoquinones such as plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2methyl-1, 4-naphthoquinone), 3, 3’-biplumbagin and elliptinone, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (V), trans-cinnamic acid (VI), vanillic acid (VII), lupenone and trilinolein (Nguyen, 2004; Zhang et al., 2007; Kaewbumrung and Panichayupakaranant, 2011). Plumbago indica is more commonly used in Thai traditional medicine. It has various common names in different countries e.g. jetamulpleung-dang or Pitpiudang (Thailand), red leadwort or Indian leadwort (India), Akar binasa or mehulatu (Indonesia), Cheraka merah or setaka (Malaysia) and Laurel or Pampasapit (Philippines). Plumbagin, a major ingredient isolated from plumbago’s roots are known to have various therapeutic effects, such as antiatherogenic (Sharma et al., 1991), anti-bacterial