Acute and subacute toxicity evaluation of hydroalcoholic extract of Caryota urens leaves in Wistar rats

ABSTRACT

Caryota urens native to Srilanka and India grows in tropical and subtropical regions. It is rich in nutrition andshow pharmacological properties owing to the presence of flavonoids, coumarins, carbohydrates, and amino acids.However, scientific reports which guarantee the safety of C. urens are not available. Therefore, the intention of thecurrent investigation was to assess the potential toxicity of the hydroalcoholic extract of C. urens leaves (CULHA)in Wistar rats. In acute toxicity study, CULHA was administered at a single oral dose of 2,000 mg/kg body weight.In subacute toxicity study, CULHA was administered once a day at three dose levels of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg body weight for 28 days. At the end of the treatment, animals were sacrificed; vital organs were removed andexamined histopathologically. Blood and serum samples were collected and processed immediately for the analysis ofhematological and biochemical parameters. During acute toxicity study, treatment-associated death or manifestationof toxic clinical symptoms were not seen. Furthermore, results of both acute and subacute toxicity group exposed toCULHA did not exhibit significant change in hematology, biochemical parameters, and histopathology. The resultsdemonstrated that CULHA did not possess potential to induce toxicity