Acute and subacute toxicity of Schinus terebinthifolius bark extract.
BACKGROUND
Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Anacardiaceae) has long been used in traditional Brazilian medicine, especially to treat inflammatory and haemostatic diseases.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to evaluate the acute and subacute toxicity (45 days) of Schinus terebinthifolius via the oral route in Wistar rats of both sexes.


METHODS
For the acute toxicity test, the dried extract of Schinus terebinthifolius bark was administered in doses from 0.625 to 5.0 g/kg (n=5/group/sex) and in the subacute toxicity test the following doses were used: 0.25, 0.625 and 1.5625 g/kg/day (n=13/group/sex), for 45 consecutive days.


RESULTS
In the acute toxicity test, Schinus terebinthifolius did not produce any toxic signs or deaths. The subacute treatment with Schinus terebinthifolius did not alter either the body weight gain or the food and water consumption. The hematological and biochemical analysis did not show significant differences in any of the parameters examined in female or male groups, except in two male groups, in which the treatment with Schinus terebinthifolius (0.25 and 0.625 g/kg) induced an increase of mean corpuscular volume values (2.9 and 2.6%, respectively). These variations are within the physiological limits described for the specie and does not have clinical relevance.


CONCLUSIONS
The acute and subacute administration of the dried extract of Schinus terebinthifolius bark did not produced toxic effects in Wistar rats.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, 50740-521, Brazil.
L B
LB
Lima
C F B
CF
Vasconcelos
H M L
HM
Maranhão
V R
VR
Leite
P A
PA
Ferreira
B A
BA
Andrade
E L
EL
Araújo
H S
HS
Xavier
S S L
SS
Lafayette
A G
AG
Wanderley
D027926:Anacardiaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D019963:Clinical Chemistry Tests; D005260:Female; D006403:Hematologic Tests; D008297:Male; D024301:Plant Bark / Q000737:chemistry*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
D010936:Plant Extracts