Abstract:

Background and Objective: Saussurea lappa is a medicinal plant used in the treatment of various disease conditions for decades. Researchers have provided diversified characteristics of this medicinal plant, and enormous data about the bioactive compounds and its pharmacological properties. However, information regarding the toxicity study of Saussurea lappa root is lacking. The acute and sub-chronic toxicity of Saussurea lappa root ethanolic extract was investigated in this study using an in vivo model (male Wistar rats). Materials and Method: the acute toxicity study was done in two phases; phase one was composed of four groups of three rats each which were administered with 50mg, 100mg and 1600mg/kg bodyweight ethanolic extract of S. lappa while the last group (control) were given water and normal fed once. Phase two involves administering 1600mg, 2900mg and 5000mg per body weight. The acute toxicity study determined the plant's median lethal dose. In sub-chronic toxicity studies, the effect of S. lappa root ethanol extract in daily single oral administration at 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg during 28 days was determined. The blood haematological and biochemical parameters, as well as the histopathological examination of the liver and kidneys were studied. Results: In the acute study, a single administration of the Saussurea lappa root ethanolic extract up to a dose of 5000 mg/kg did not cause mortality of animals all throughout the study. Thus, the median lethal dose (LD50) of Saussurea lappa root ethanolic extract was greater than 5000mg/kg. Saussurea lappa root ethanolic extract caused no significant effects in the haematological and biochemical parameters of the treated groups when compared to the control. There were also no noticeable histological changes in the liver and kidneys of the Saussurea lappa treated rats compared to controls. Conclusion: These results have shown that oral administration of Saussurea lappa root ethanol extract did not yield any significant toxic effect when acutely and daily administered for 28 days in the male Wistar rats. Hence, Saussurea lappa root ethanol extract could be regarded as a safe natural product for therapeutic use.