Abstract
Camellia hakodae Ninh (CHN) is an ornamental plant of Vietnam, whose extracts is used as a potential phytotherapeutic beverage due to its good improvement in the immune system, reduction of inflammation and assisting the treatment of some chronic diseases. CHN production may be useful for health during this coronavirus epidemic period. This study aimed to evaluate the safety, acute and sub-chronic toxicity of aqueous extracts of CHN leaf in mice. In the acute toxicity study, CHN leaf at doses from 24.0 to 120.0 g/kg/day was given to 5 groups of Swiss mice by oral administration (equivalent in humans is 0.2 to 10 g/kg/day). Mice were observed for general behavioral changes, adverse effects and mortality up to 7 days post-treatment to find the highest dose that did not kill mice (the dose of death 0% (LD0)), the lowest dose that completely killed the mice (the dose of death 100% (LD100)) and the intermediate doses (LD50). In sub-chronic toxicity studies, CHN was given orally to 2 groups of Wistar rats at doses of 2.8 and 14 g CHN/kg/day (equivalent in humans is 0.4 and 2 g/kg) for 28 days taking CHN daily. After 28 days of taking CHN, mice were operated to observe the whole organ for histopathology. The microscopic structure of the liver, spleen, and kidney of at least 30% of mice in each group was randomly checked. The acute toxicity study in all the doses used did not cause any significant change as no LD50 was found. In addition, the sub-chronic toxicity study did not show any treatment-related abnormalities with regard to hematological and biochemical parameters. These results demonstrated that the CHN leaf aqueous extract is safe and does not appear to exert toxicity. Key words: Camellia hakodae Ninh, golden tea, acute and sub-chronic administration, Vietnamese tea.  
Highlights
Golden Camellia (Golden tea) is the important genus in the Theaceae family that had been used as high-ranking drink tea due to its extremely good health benefits with many antioxidant components such as selens, catechin, quercetin and polyphenols (Wei et al, 2015; Van et al, 2018)
This study investigates the toxicological profile of the water extract of Camellia hakodae Ninh (CHN) leaf after acute and sub-chronic administration in mice according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guideline (OECD, 1981, 1987, 2004)
Even at the highest dose of 120 g/kg/day, the mice remained alive and did not display any unusual symptoms. These results demonstrated that CHN did not cause acute toxicity through oral administration
Summary
Golden Camellia (Golden tea) is the important genus in the Theaceae family that had been used as high-ranking drink tea due to its extremely good health benefits with many antioxidant components such as selens, catechin, quercetin and polyphenols (Wei et al, 2015; Van et al, 2018). The golden tea is quite useful for health in this coronavirus epidemic period for patients with severe condition of chronic disease or weak resistance
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