Abstract
Lycopersicon esculentum (tomato) is a plant widely used in Africa like food and to solve many health problems. The methanol crude extract of tomato recently demonstrated a good antiproliferative effect on many human cancer cell lines. The aim of this research was to evaluate the acute toxicity and subacute oral toxicity of methanolic extract from leaves of this plant. These toxicities were evaluated based on the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines. The assay of acute toxicity was performed using a total of 3 female rats, which received a single dose of 5000 mg/kg of methanolic extract via oral gavage. For the subacute toxicity study, 32 Wistar rats (males and females) were used. The groups were treated with three different doses of Lycopersicon esculentum methanolic extract (250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg b.w.) for 28 days and the control group received distilled water. The hematological, biochemical, and histopathological studies were performed after the sacrifice. Single dose of tomato extract caused no toxicity up to a dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight; hence, the median lethal dose (DL50) of leaves of this plant was greater than this value. However, lower toxic effects could be manifested in the long-term treatment at the highest dose (1000 mg/kg) because urea level and total serum proteins significantly increased at a dose of 1000 mg/kg with respect to control. The microscopic observation showed no remarkable pathological changes on all organs in the treated groups compared with the control groups of female and male rats. These results demonstrate that single dose of tomato extract leaves is relatively nontoxic at a dose of 5000 mg/kg b.w. and prolonged use of lower doses (250 and 500 mg/kg) of L. esculentum orally should be encouraged, whereas highest dose (1000 mg/kg) should be avoided.
Highlights
Phytochemicals have beneficial effects on health when consumed by humans and can be used to effectively treat human diseases [1, 2]
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 40–90% of people living in developing countries frequently use traditional medicine [3] for their primary health care and almost three-fourths of the herbal drugs used worldwide are derived from medicinal plants [4]
Single oral dose (5000 mg/kg b.w.) of extract of L. esculentum administered in female rats had no effect on mortality and examined clinical signs. erefore, no acute toxicity was found in rats treated with this extract, and approximate LD50 was determined to be higher than the dose of 5000 mg/kg
Summary
Phytochemicals have beneficial effects on health when consumed by humans and can be used to effectively treat human diseases [1, 2]. More experimental data on the toxicity profile of medicinal plants and their extracts are essential to increase human safety and their use in the development of pharmaceuticals [6]. Tomato widely called Lycopersicon esculentum L. belongs to the family of Solanaceae [8] It is a native plant of west coast of South America, which is mostly well-liked and commonly grown vegetable all over the world [9]. E leaves of chopped tomatoes are applied to the skin as a remedy for insect bites [12] In tomato, both leaves and fruits contain secondary metabolites, which protect hosts against adverse effects of predators including fungi, bacteria, viruses, and insects involved in host-plant resistance [12, 13]. Knowing the potential harmful effect of this plant lad us to believe that tomato leaves could be toxic for the human body; performing toxicological studies of this plant become imperative given that little information about tomato leaves is known. e aim of this study was to evaluate the acute and subacute toxicities of tomato leaves through oral administration
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