Medicinal plants in genusLagerstroemiawere investigated for phytochemical contents by GC‐MS and HPLC with ethanol and hexane extracts and their toxicity MTT and comet assay on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).γ‐Sitosterol is the major component found in all species at 14.70–34.44%. All of the extracts, except forL. speciosaethanol extract, showed high percentages of cell viability. The IC₅₀value, 0.24 mg/mL, of ethanolL. speciosaextract predicted an LD₅₀of 811.78 mg/kg, which belongs to WHO Class III of toxic chemicals. However, in‐depth toxicity evaluation by the comet assay showed that the four tested species induced significant (p< 0.05) DNA damage in PBMCs.γ‐Sitosterol was previously reported to possess antihyperglycemic activity by increasing insulin secretion in response to glucose. Nonetheless, consumers should consider its toxicity, and the amount of consumption should be of concern.

Channid fishes, commonly referred to as “snakeheads”, are currently very important in Asian fishery and aquaculture due to the substantial decline in natural populations because of overexploitation. A large degree of chromosomal variation has been found in this family, mainly through the use of conventional cytogenetic investigations. In this study, we analyzed the karyotype structure and the distribution of 7 repetitive DNA sequences in several Channa species from different Thailand river basins. The aim of this study was to investigate the chromosomal differentiation among species and populations to improve upon the knowledge of its biodiversity and evolutionary history. Rearrangements, such as pericentric inversions, fusions and polyploidization, appear to be important events during the karyotypic evolution of this genus, resulting in the chromosomal diversity observed among the distinct species and even among populations of the same species. In addition, such variability is also increased by the genomic dynamism of repetitive elements, particularly by the differential distribution and accumulation of rDNA sequences on chromosomes. This marked diversity is likely linked to the lifestyle of the snakehead fishes and their population fragmentation, as already identified for other fish species. The karyotypic features highlight the biodiversity of the channid fishes and justify a taxonomic revision of the genus Channa, as well as of the Channidae family as a whole, as some nominal species may actually constitute species complexes.