Study on acute and long-term toxicity of GJ-4 extracted from Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the acute and long-term toxicity of GJ-4 extracted from Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis, and to provide safety basis for its development as a new drug for the treatment of dementia. Methods:In the acute toxicity experiment, 30 ICR mice were randomly divided into control group, gardenia extract 2.5 g/kg group and gardenia extract 5.0 g/kg group, 10 mice in each group. The mice in the 2.5 g/kg and 5.0 g/kg gardenia extract groups were administrated with GJ-4 suspension. The control group was given 0.5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) by gavage. The mice were given continuous gavage for 7 days. The mortality, body weight and general condition of mice were recorded. The levels of ALT, ALP, BUN and creatinine (CRE) in serum were measured by automatic biochemical detector. In the long-term toxicity experiment, 75 ICR mice were divided into control group and gardenia extract 100, 250, 500, 1 000 mg/kg group according to the random number table method, 15 mice in each group. The GJ-4 suspension of Gardenia extract 100, 250, 500 and 1 000 mg/kg were administrated to the stomach respectively in the gardenia extract 100, 250, 500 and 1 000 mg/kg groups, and 0.5% CMC-Na of the same volume was administrated to the stomach in the control group once a day for 30 days. The mortality, weight and mental state of mice were recorded. The organ index and the levels of ALT, ALP and BUN in serum were observed.Results:In the acute toxicity experiment, the mental state and diet of mice in each group were good, and there was no death within 7 days. Compared with the control group, there was no significant differences in body weight, heart index, liver index and kidney index between the two groups ( P>0.05). Compared with the control group, the level of BUN (10.17 ± 0.82 mmol/L vs. 11.25 ± 0.47 mmol/L) in the gardenia extract 2.5 g/kg group significantly decreased ( P<0.05), and the level of ALP (116.0 ± 10.75 U/L vs. 148.0 ± 25.73 U/L) in the gardenia extract 5.0 g/kg group significantly decreased ( P<0.05). In the long-term toxicity experiment, the mice were in good mental state and had good diet, and no death occurred. Compared with the control group, there was no significant differences in body weight, heart index, kidney index, spleen index and serum ALT, ALP and BUN levels between the two groups ( P>0.05). The liver index (4.9 ± 0.56 vs. 4.38 ± 0.49) in the 250 mg/kg gardenia extract group significantly increased ( P<0.01), and the thymus index (0.09 ± 0.02 vs. 0.14 ± 0.04) significantly decreased ( P<0.05). Conclusions:The Gardenia jasminoides extract GJ-4 has no obvious toxicity in acute and long-term toxicity experiment, indicating that GJ-4 is safe.