Differential Toxicity of the Water and Ethanol Extracts of Chung-Sang, an Experimental Herbal Formula

Abstract

Chung-Sang (CS) is an experimental herbal remedy that is formulated to treat respiratory diseases implicated by inflammation. The herbs comprised of CS are frequently prescribed for treating various inflammatory symptoms: Menthae haplocalycis Herba, Magnoliae Flosis, Xanthii Fructus, Herba Asari, and Caryphylli Flos. Here, we prepared the extract of CS with boiling water (wCS) or with 50 % ethanol (eCS) and examined whether the two different extracts of CS exhibit a toxicity to cultured cells and mice. RAW 264.7 cells were treated with wCS or eCS, and the cytotoxicity of these extracts to RAW 264.7 cells was determined by an MTT assay. Although the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species that are detrimental to the cells was not increased by the extracts, the cytotoxicity to the cells was evident from 10 mg/ml of wCS and 100 mg/ml of eCS, suggesting that eCS is less cytotoxic. When mice (n = 10/group) received a single intratracheal wCS or eCS daily for 14 days, wCS yielded 40 % mortality, whereas eCS showed none. Both wCS and eCS did not significantly affect the weight of the body and of vital organs, except the lung. Biochemical analyses of mice blood indicated no damage to liver or kidney. However, unlike eCS, wCS significantly increased the level of IgE in serum. Collectively, our results show that eCS was less toxic than wCS, suggesting that CS prepared with 50 % ethanol is preferential over the conventional way of preparing CS.