Abstract
Acute and chronic toxicities of the water extract from calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa were studied in male and female rats. After 14 days of a single oral administration of test substance 5,000 mg/kg body weight, measurement of the body and organ weights, necropsy and health monitoring were performed. No signs and differences of the weights or behaviour compared to the control rats were observed. The results indicated that the single oral administration of H. sabdariffa extract in the amount of 5,000 mg/kg body weight does not produce acute toxicity. The chronic toxicity was determined by oral feeding both male and female rats daily with the extract at the doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight for 270 days. The examinations of signs, animal behaviour and health monitoring showed no defects in the test groups compared to the control groups. Both test and control groups (day 270th) and satellite group (day 298th) were analysed by measuring their final body and organ weights, taking necropsy, and examining haematology, blood clinical chemistry, and microanatomy. Results showed no differences from the control groups. Overall, our study demonstrated that an oral administration of H. sabdariffa extract at the doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight for 270 days does not cause chronic toxicity in rat.
Highlights
Hibiscus sabdariffa L. is a plant found in many countries, and is commonly known as Roselle
This study was aimed at evaluating the safety of the water extract from the calyces of H. sabdariffa by single and long-term oral administration in rats
A single administration of H. sabdariffa extract by the oral route up to a dose of 5000 mg/kg did not produce mortality, any signs of toxicity or changes in general behaviour or other physiological activities when compared with the control group
Summary
Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (family Malvaceae) is a plant found in many countries, and is commonly known as Roselle. The calyces have been used in folk medicines and claimed to be effective as antimicrobial, antiseptic, astringent, digestive, diuretics, hypertension, laxative, sedative, and stomachic (Perry, 1980), and used for treatment of pyrexia and liver disease (Mahadevan et al, 2009). Many studies have shown the pharmacological activities of H. sabdariffa. These include decreasing blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (Odigie et al, 2003; Onyenekwe et al, 1999; Adegunloye et al, 1996) as well as in patients with essential hypertension (Herrera-Arellano et al, 2004; Faraji and Tarkhani, 1999). H. sabdariffa extract lowered serum lipids and showed an anti-atherosclerotic activity in cholesterol-fed rabbits and rats (Chen et al, 2003). The water and ethanolic extracts of H. sabdariffa have natural phenols content, antioxidant and antibacterial activity (Al-Hashimi, 2012)
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