Toxicity assessment of aqueous extract of &lt;i&gt;Curtisia dentata&lt;/i&gt; (Burm.f) C.A. Sm: stem bark in male Wistar rats

Olubunmi Abosede Wintola,Anthony Jide Afolayan

doi:10.4314/tjpr.v17i1.15

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the acute and sub-acute toxicity effects of aqueous stem bark extract in male Wistar rats.Methods: For the acute toxicity study, a single dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight of the extract was orally administered to the animals by oral gavage and the rats thereafter were observed for mortality and toxicity signs for 14 days. In the sub-acute toxicity test, the graded doses (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight) of the aqueous extract of CD were given to the animals once daily for 28 days. In each of the experiment, the food and water intake, body weight changes, relative organ weights, hematological, clinical biochemistry and histopathological parameters were evaluated.Results: In both the acute and sub-acute toxicity studies, CD did not show any visible signs of toxicity. There were also no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the control and CD-treated rats for all the investigated parameters; no obvious gross pathological features in the kidney, heart and liver of all the experimental animals were observed.Conclusion: The findings indicate that the extract is not toxic when administered at the tested doses and within the exposure period. Thus, the aqueous stem bark extract of CD may be adjudged relatively safe and pharmacologically non-toxic in Wistar rats.Keywords: Curtisia dentata, Hematopoietic, Histopathology, Toxicity

Highlights

Curtisia dentata is a common South African plant belonging to the family Cornaceae
There were no signs of toxicity or mortality observed in both the acute and sub-acute toxicity testing in this study
Similar observations were noticed in the sub-acute toxicity study where the liver, kidney and heart of the CDEtreated rats did not show any differences when compared with the control (Figure 2)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Curtisia dentata is a common South African plant belonging to the family Cornaceae. It is known as “Assegaai” by the Afrikaans speaking people while the Xhosa and the Zulu people of South Africa call it “umLahleni”. Its significant therapeutic effects in sexually transmitted infections, as purgative, blood purifier and aphrodisiac have been reported [5,6,7].The stem bark infusion extract of C. dentata has found relevance in livestock for the management of the dreaded heartwater disease of cattle in South Africa [8] and it is used in the treatment of pimples in humans, [8,9]. Thirty-six (36) male Wistar rats weighing 100.0 ± 14.5 g were obtained from the central animal unit of the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. The cages were cleaned on a daily basis and treatments were in accordance with the guidelines of the Ethics Committee on the use and care of Experimental Animals of the University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa. Values were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

Conflict of interest