Publication:

Acute toxicity study of seeds of Achyranthes aspera, bark of Berberis aristata and roots of Coleus forskohlii in Wistar rats

Background Achyranthes aspera is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae. Berberis aristata is a shrub belonging to the family Berberidaceae and the genus Berberis. Plectranthus barbatus is a tropical perennial plant related to the typical coleus species. It produces forskolin, an extract useful for pharmaceutical preparations and research in cell biology. It is belonging to Lamiaceae. The present study has been undertaken to study the toxic effects of hydro alcoholic extracts of A. aspera, B. aristata, C. forskohlii in albino Wistar rats and to establish the hazardous safety category of hydro alcoholic extracts of these plants as per organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD-423) guidelines and GHS classification system respectively.

Methods In acute toxicity study, the hydro-alcoholic extracts of all the above three plants were given orally at the dose of 2000 mg/kg b. w. to three rats in each group respectively in step I. Then, all the animals were observed for initial 4 hours and followed by fourteen days for their clinical signs and mortality in step II.

Results In step I, all the animals were normal and there was no mortality after 48 hours. In step II with the same dose, all the animals showed no adverse effects and no mortality when followed up to 14 days observation period.

Conclusions The result indicates that the hydro alcoholic extracts of A. aspera, B. aristata, C. forskohlii plants can be utilized safely for therapeutic use in pharmaceutical formulations and it falls under category ‘5’ or ‘unclassified’ of GHS system.