Abstract
Averrhoa carambola L., a species belonging to the Oxalidaceae family, is associated with neurological symptoms in individuals with renal diseases. The objective of this work was to accomplish a pre-clinical toxicological study of the hydroalcoholic extract (HE) from A. carambola leaves. Wistar rats and Swiss mice, both male and female, were used in these experiments. The rats were used in the acute toxicity assessment, with the extract administered at doses of 0.1 to 8.0 g/kg (oral route), and 0.5 to 3.0 g/kg (via intraperitoneal route). The mice received the extract in doses of 0.5 to 5.0 g/kg (via oral and intraperitoneal routes) and were observed for 14 days. Rats were also used in the sub-chronic toxicity evaluation, and divided into three groups (n=10): control group, HE 0.125 g/kg and HE 0.25 g/kg. These animals received HE for a 60 day period, at the end of which a macroscopic analysis of selected organs was performed with biochemical analysis of the blood. The acute toxicity assessment revealed that the HE of A. carambola L. presented low toxicity in the mice and rats. Furthermore, no signs of toxicity were present in the sub-chronic assessment. Key words: Averrhoa carambola L., Oxalidaceae, acute toxicity, sub-chronic toxicity.
Highlights
The use of medicinal plants is common in popular culture, where it represents the result of centuries of accumulation of empirical knowledge on the action of plants by diverse ethnic groups
The rats were used in the acute toxicity assessment, with the extract administered at doses of 0.1 to 8.0 g/kg, and 0.5 to 3.0 g/kg
In a study on the effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves on glycemia during fasting in rats treated orally (20 mg/kg), we found that the A. carambola L. extract lowered glycemia in comparison with the control group, while this reduction was not caused by inhibition of hepatic gluconeogenesis nor by an increase in glucose uptake by muscle (Ferreira et al, 2008)
Summary
The use of medicinal plants is common in popular culture, where it represents the result of centuries of accumulation of empirical knowledge on the action of plants by diverse ethnic groups. Some of the most valuable and most widely used medicines were developed from the accumulation of this knowledge (Simoes, 1989). The species Averrhoa carambola L., popularly known in Brazil as “carambola” (starfruit), belongs to the Oxalidaceae family. This family is comprised of eight genera distributed predominantly in the southern hemisphere, in the tropical and subtropical zones, and made up of trees cultivated for ornamental purposes because of their fruit (Carreira and Schatzmayr, 1982; Joly, 1979). Hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic activities were observed using this plant species in Sprague-Dawley rats with induced diabetes (Tan et al, 2005) and the methanol extract from the leaves was shown to contain antioxidant activity (Abas et al, 2006)
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