Evaluation of the subchronic toxicity of oral treatment with Chenopodium ambrosioides in mice.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The leaves of Chenopodium ambrosioides L. (Chenopodiaceae) have been used by native people to treat many diseases. Recently, we showed that the treatment with small dose (5mg/kg) of hydroalcoholic extract (HE) from Chenopodium ambrosioides' leaves has immunestimulatory effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the subchronic toxicity of the oral treatment with this HE in preclinical assays. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Swiss mice were divided into 4 groups (n=10/group). They received the HE daily at the doses of 5, 50 and 500 mg/kg by gavage during 15 days. The control group received only water. They were observed each hour for 24h and each day for 15 days, when the blood was collected. The serum was used to perform the biochemical analysis. The mice were then killed and the vital and lymphoid organs were collected and evaluated. RESULTS: There was neither death nor alterations in the body weight in the HE-treated groups, but there were alterations in the weight of some organs. There was an increase in the lymph node cells number in the highest two doses. The number of cells in the bone marrow was high in the HE-treated groups, but the number of peritoneal cells was smaller in the HE-treated groups when compared to the control. There was no alteration in the AST, but there was a reduction in the albumin levels in the HE500 group and in the triglycerides and VLDL in the highest doses. CONCLUSION: The subchronic treatment with HE induced punctual alterations in the groups treated with the highest doses. However, the HE treatment was not lethal and did not induce toxic alterations using the therapeutic dose, suggesting that it is safe to use this product in the adequate dose.

In vitro genotoxic evaluation of the medicinal plant Chenopodium ambrosioides L.

Chenopodium ambrosioides (Chenopodiaceae) is an anthelmintic herb used in Latin-America's folk medicine. The aim of this work is to evaluate genetic damage induced by decoction and infusion of this plant which were assayed in different concentrations (1, 10, 100, 1000 microg/ml), by addition of the extract to human lymphocyte cell cultures. The endpoints evaluated were chromosomal aberrations (CA), sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), cell proliferation kinetics (CPK) and mitotic indexes (MI). The repeated measure analysis of variance was used for statistic evaluation of the results. The results showed (a) a statistical increase in the percentage of cells with CA and in the frequency of SCE when cultures were exposed to both preparations of Paico, (b) a decrease in MI of both preparations assayed, although no modification in the CPK values either in the infusion or in the decoction was observed. These results suggest a possible genotoxic effect of both preparations, probably due to different active principles.