*2.10. Mutagen and Antimutagen Activity*

Mutagen and antimutagenity of samples were examined using the plate incorporation method [23] described in detailed by Sarac and Sen [24]. 4-NPD (4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine) 3 μg/plate and NaN3 8 μg/plate were used as positive controls for *S. thyphimurium* TA98 and *S. thyphimurium* TA100 (negative control—ethanol:water 1:1, v/v). The concentration of BBE was 5 mg/plate. The antimutagenity of the reference mutagens in the absence of the BBE was defined as 0% inhibition, and the antimutagenity was calculated according to the formula given by Ong et al., [25] as it follows: % Inhibition = [1 − T/M] × 100, where, T is the number of revertants per plate in the presence of mutagen and the BBE and M is the number of revertants per plate (without BBE) in the positive control. The data was presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). Antimutagenity was recorded as follows: strong: 40% or more inhibition; moderate: 25%–40% inhibition; low/none: 25% or less inhibition [26].
