Acute and subacute toxicity of Cassia occidentalis L. stem and leaf in Wistar rats

Cassia occidentalis L. (syn. Senna occidentalis; Leguminosae) has been used as natural medicine in rainforests and tropical regions as laxative, analgesic, febrifuge, diuretic, hepatoprotective, vermifuge and colagogo. Herein, we performed a pre-clinical safety evaluation of hydroalcoholic extract o...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of ethnopharmacology Vol. 136; no. 2; pp. 341 - 346
Main Authors:	Silva, Mirtes G.B., Aragão, Ticiana P., Vasconcelos, Carlos F.B., Ferreira, Pablo A., Andrade, Bruno A., Costa, Igor M.A., Costa-Silva, João H., Wanderley, Almir G., Lafayette, Simone S.L.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 22-06-2011 Elsevier
Subjects:	Acute toxicity Animals Behavior, Animal - drug effects Biochemical and hematological parameters Biological and medical sciences Biomarkers - blood Body Weight - drug effects Cassia - toxicity Cassia occidentalis L Female General pharmacology Leguminosae Male Medical sciences Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food Pharmacology. Drug treatments Plant Extracts - toxicity Plant Leaves Plant Stems Pre-clinical study Rats Rats, Wistar Subacute toxicity Pre-clinical study Subacute toxicity Biochemical and hematological parameters Cassia occidentalis L Leguminosae Acute toxicity Rat Pharmacognosy Toxicity Rodentia Preclinical trial Plant leaf Stem Medicinal plant Vertebrata Mammalia Dicotyledones Animal Angiospermae Plant origin Senna occidentalis Spermatophyta Cassia occidentalis Subacute
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Cassia occidentalis L. (syn. Senna occidentalis; Leguminosae) has been used as natural medicine in rainforests and tropical regions as laxative, analgesic, febrifuge, diuretic, hepatoprotective, vermifuge and colagogo. Herein, we performed a pre-clinical safety evaluation of hydroalcoholic extract of Cassia occidentalis stem and leaf in male and female Wistar rats. In acute toxicity tests, four groups of rats (n=5/group/sex) were orally treated with doses of 0.625, 1.25, 2.5 and 5.0g/kg and general behavior, adverse effects and mortality were recorded for up to 14 days. In subacute toxicity assays, animals received Cassia occidentalis by gavage at the doses of 0.10, 0.50 or 2.5g/kg/day (n=10/group/sex) for 30 days and biochemical, hematological and morphological parameters were determined. Cassia occidentalis did not produce any hazardous symptoms or death in the acute toxicity test, showing a LD50 higher than 5g/kg. Subacute treatment with Cassia occidentalis failed to change body weight gain, food and water consumption and hematological and biochemical profiles. In addition, no changes in macroscopical and microscopical aspect of organs were observed in the animals. Our results showed that acute or subacute administration of Cassia occidentalis is not toxic in male and female Wistar rats, suggesting a safety use by humans.
ISSN:	0378-8741 1872-7573
DOI:	10.1016/j.jep.2011.04.070