Toxicological Studies Of Methanol Roots Extract Of Ficus sycomorus.

[摘要] Ficus sycomorus (Mulberry Fig) plant have been reported to be used in Nigerian traditional medicinefor the treatment of malaria and hence the need to evaluate its safety profile. Guidelines of OCED wereemployed for acute and sub-chronic toxicity studies of the methanol root extract of the plant in albino rats. Five (5) rats were used for the acute toxicity study as recommended by the OCED 2001 guidelines. Twenty four(24) albino rats of both sexes weighing between 100 -120 g were assigned into six groups of four rats each. Therats in groups 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were orally administered graded doses of the LD of the extract (20%, 40%, 60%,50 80% and 100%) daily for 28 days; rats in group 1 served as control group and received distilled water for thetest period.After 28 days, all the rats were decapitated and bloods collected from the individual animals werecentrifuged to obtain sera for biochemical assays.The kidneys and livers of the rats were removed andpreserved in 10% formalin for histopathological studies.The median lethal dose (LD ) of the methanol root50 extract was estimated to be greater than 5000 mg/kg body weight.Methanol root extract administration for28 days did not produce any significant effect on the hepatic and renal function indices.The results suggestthat the plant is safe.

[学科分类] 工程和技术（综合）

[关键词] Ficus sycomorus;liver;kidney;extract;root malaria