Toxicidade pré-clínica do extrato aquoso de licania rigida benth (Chrysobalanaceae)

Abstract

Brazilian plant biodiversity is a rich alternative source of bioactive compounds, since plant-derived extracts and/or their metabolites have potential properties for the treatment of various diseases. Licania rigida Benth (Family Chrysobalanaceae), popularly known as “oiticica”, is a large tree with an evergreen character whose leaves are used in Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of Diabetes mellitus and inflammatory processes. Studies like this one have attracted a lot of scientific attention, especially with regard to the assessment of the toxicity of new plant substances in order to add safety in their use for pharmacological and therapeutic treatment. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the acute oral toxicity (TOA) and the repeated dose toxicity (TDR) of the aqueous extract of Licania rigida (EALr) in Wistar rats. Leaves were collected, dried and pulverized, the aqueous extract was prepared by decoction in water (100ºC/10 min) and then filtered and lyophilized. Then, in vivo experiments were performed, which were performed in Wistar rats (60 days old, males and females), for TOA a single dose of 2,000mg/Kg was administered and for TDR, doses of 100, 200 were administered and 400µg/Kg for 28 consecutive days (all doses were administered by gavage). On the 14th day (TOA) and 28th day (TDR), the animals were anesthetized and euthanized for blood collection (biochemical and hematological parameters) and the liver was removed for the evaluation of lipid peroxidation parameters and antioxidant enzyme activity. No toxic effects were observed by assays using hepatic and renal analytes, after exposing the rats to extract concentrations. No significant changes were observed when evaluating the content for reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX), however, EALr was able to decrease lipid peroxidation. The data support the safety of rEAL for possible therapeutic use and may become a target for further studies to validate its potential as an herbal medicine.