Abstract
Seven coumarin derivatives (imperatorin, heraclenin, xanthotoxin, marmesin, chelepin, oxypeucedanin, esculin) and a furan derivative (nimbolide) were screened on 6 Ames tester strains (TA92, TA94, TA97, TA98, TA100, TA102). The 8 compounds were chemicals isolated from 3 Nigerian medicinal plants: Afraegle paniculata, Clausena anisata and Azadirachta indica. Different preparations of the former were taken by Nigerians for gut disturbances, and a concoction of the latter called Agbo was taken as an antimalarial. Marmesin and imperatorin were mutagenic in all tester strains except TA94 and TA102. The mutagenicity potencies of marmesin and imperatorin were 20 and 0.2, respectively. Mutagenicity was highest in TA98 and TA100 for both compounds. Marmesin was optimally mutagenic at 1.04 .mu.g, and imperatorin at 30.0 .mu.g. Microsomal activation was not required for mutagenicity of both compounds.

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