RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the acute and subacute toxicity profile of fucoidan obtained from Sargassum wightii Greville, a brown marine algae in order to assess its safety. METHODS: Fucoidan was isolated from Sargassum wightii Greviile and subjected to FTIR analysis to confirm the functional groups. In acute toxicity study, a single dose of fucoidan (2000 mg/kg) was orally administered to three female rats as per OECD guideline 423. OECD guidelines 407 was adopted for subacute toxicity study. Fucoidan was orally administered to male and female rats at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg. Hematological, biochemical and histopathological analyses were carried out. RESULTS: FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of major functional groups. The animals did not show any remarkable toxic signs or mortality in acute toxicity study at single oral administration of fucoidan at the dose of 2000 mg/kg bodyweight. In subacute toxicity, no statistically significant difference in body weight, relative weight of vital organs, food and water intake compared to the control group was observed. Serum glucose and cholesterol showed a statistically significant reduction at all the doses when compared to normal control and the reduction was in a dose dependent manner. There were no other changes observed in biochemical or haematological parameters. Histopathological analysis showed no significant toxic signs at organ levels in treated groups when compared to normal control. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results obtained from acute and subacute toxicity study, fucoidan is considered to be safe in the models tested, which encourages its long term administration for medicinal uses. This study supports the application of fucoidan as a traditional medicine.
