Acute and sub-acute toxicity studies on the effect of Senna alata in Swiss Albino mice

Abstract

Senna alata has attracted the attention of many researchers due to its numerous medicinal properties. This study aims to test the acute and sub-acute toxicity of its leaf extracts in Swiss albino mice. Studies were carried out with a fixed dose of 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 mg/kg body weight through oral administration daily. Signs of toxicity in terms of behavior and mortality were noted after every two hours till 24 h of administration for acute toxicity and further administration of extracts till 15 days to analyze the physical, biochemical, hematological parameters, and histopathological studies in liver, kidney, and spleen for sub-acute study. The highest dose administered did not produce mortality or changes in the general behavior of the test animals. All parameters were unaltered throughout the study. The present study revealed no obvious toxicity in mice treated with S. alata. These results indicate the safety of the oral administration of leaf extract.

Keywords:

• toxicity
• Senna alata
• extracts
• nontoxic
• mice

Public Interest Statement

Helminthiasis is a neglected disease and has shown resistance to some available marketed drugs. Scientists continue the search for new anthelmintic agents especially from natural sources and plants have proved to be a potential source for this purpose. There are few species of Senna plant that showed to have medicinal properties, three species viz. S. alexandrina, S. alata and S. occidentalis leaf extracts have been reported for the first time from our laboratory to have cestocidal property. Amongst the three plants, S. alata leaf extracts showed to have more anthelmintic efficacy and is apparently believed to be nontoxic, but detail pre-clinical toxicological evaluation in animals have not been evaluated. Moreover, not all medicinal plants are safe for consumption in the crude form. Some level of toxicity arises from the potent toxic compounds present in it and nontoxic compounds can also behave like a toxic compound even at a lower dose, and can produce an adverse effect in human or animal cells. Thus, it is required to examine the toxicity profile of S. alata leaf extract, given its widespread consumption by human.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interest

Acknowledgments

We also wish to thank the Department of Zoology, Centre for Advanced Studies, Visva-Bharati for providing infrastructural support.

Additional information

Funding

The authors’ gratefully acknowledge the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for providing financial assistance through a major research project (No: UGC/SR/40-385/2011) sanctioned to Larisha M. Lyndem.

Notes on contributors

S. Roy

Larisha Mawkhlieng Lyndem PhD is an associate professor in the Department of Zoology, Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal, India. She teaches Parasitology and related courses for graduate and postgraduate students. Among other areas, her research interest includes the development of anthelmintic agents from natural sources mainly plant source. Together with her research team members Lyndem has extensive publications on the anthelmintic efficacy of medicinal plants widely used in traditional medicine. Saptarshi Roy and Bidisha Ukil are active members of Lyndem’s team of research.