新药物的发现，能够减少或者没有任何副作用，这在全球范围内引起了极大的关注。在肿瘤治疗中，天然产物已被用作化学预防和化疗药物。属于Byrsonima属的巴西稀树草，通常被称为“muricis”，因其多种药理学活性引起了很多关注。然而，目前没有数据显示这些植物在人类细胞系中用作化学预防或化疗药物的效果。该研究评估了B. correifolia、B. verbascifolia、B. crassifolia和B. intermedia提取物作为天然替代品在癌症预防和/或治疗方面的潜力。通过电喷雾电离质谱分析（ESI-MSN），分析了每种提取物中的化学成分。使用小鼠淋巴瘤细胞（微核试验）、基因毒性/抗原毒性（彗星试验）、细胞死亡/坏死（AO/EB染色）和氧化/抗氧化（CM-H2DCFDA）技术，研究了提取物对非代谢胃（MNP01）和代谢肝癌（HepG2）上皮细胞的影响，以评估代谢对提取物生物活性的影响。观察到B. correifolia和B. verbascifolia提取物在HepG2细胞中具有基因毒性、突变原性和凋亡作用，可能与原花青素和亚硬叶黄素的存在有关。在MNP01细胞中，四种提取物都没有显示出突变原性。B. crassifolia和B. intermedia提取物在HepG2细胞中显示了强烈的抗突变原性和增强的解毒作用，在两种类型的细胞中均具有抗氧化能力，可能由于其具有化学预防作用的没食子酸和奎宁酸的存在。该研究首次确定了B. correifolia和B. verbascifolia提取物作为针对肝癌的潜在药物，B. crassifolia和B. intermedia提取物作为可能的化学预防药物。版权所有 © 2023 Elsevier B.V.。

The identification of new drugs with few or no adverse effects is of great interest worldwide. In cancer therapy, natural products have been used as chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agents. Plants from the Brazilian savannah belonging to the Byrsonima genus are popularly known as muricis and have attracted much attention due to their various pharmacological activities. However, there are currently no data on these plants concerning their use as chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents in human cell lines. The present study assessed the potential of B. correifolia, B. verbascifolia, B. crassifolia, and B. intermedia extracts as natural alternatives in the prevention and/or treatment of cancer. The chemical constituents present in each extract were analyzed by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MSN). The mutagenic/antimutagenic (micronucleus assay), genotoxic/antigenotoxic (comet assay), apoptotic/necrotic (acridine orange/ethidium bromide uptake), and oxidative/antioxidative (CM-H2DCFDA) effects of the extracts and their influence on gene expression (RTqPCR) were investigated in nonmetabolizing gastric (MNP01) and metabolizing hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) epithelial cells to evaluate the effects of metabolism on the biological activities of the extracts. The genotoxicity, mutagenicity, and apoptotic effects observed in HepG2 cells with B. correifolia and B. verbascifolia extracts are probably associated with the presence of proanthocyanidins and amentoflavone. In MNP01 cells, none of the four extracts showed mutagenic effects. B. crassifolia and B. intermedia extracts exhibited strong antimutagenicity and enhanced detoxification in HepG2 cells and antioxidant capacities in both types of cells, possibly due to the presence of gallic and quinic acids, which possess chemopreventive properties. This study identifies for the first time B. correifolia and B. verbascifolia extracts as potential agents against hepatocarcinoma and B. crassifolia and B. intermedia extracts as putative chemopreventive agents.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.