title: Acute oral toxicity studies of Swietenia macrophylla seeds in Sprague Dawley rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Swietenia macrophylla King. (Meliaceae) seeds (SMS); commonly known as sky fruit and locally known in Malaysia as Tunjuk Langit; have been used in traditional Malay medicine for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension. The people eat only a tiny amount of raw seed, weighing not more than 5 mg.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the safety of Swietenia macrophylla seeds (SMS) at a single-dose oral administration of 2 g/kg body weight (bw) in sprague dawley (SD) rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight-week old male and female SD rats were administered a single-oral dose of 2g/kg bw. The rats' general behavior, and toxic signs were observed throughout the 14-day study period. The food and water intake by rats and their body weight were monitored during the study period. At the end of the study period, the relative weights of the organs (lung, liver, spleen, heart, kidney, testis, stomach); the hematological and biochemical parameters were measured; the architecture and histology of the organs (liver, kidney and lungs) were observed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Oral administration of SMS to rats did not affect, either food or water intake; relative organ weight of vital organs; the hematological and biochemical parameters; did not show significant changes in the architecture and histology of vital organs. Overall, there were neither signs of toxicity nor deaths recorded during the study period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rat dose of 2 g/kg bw is equivalent to the human dose of 325 mg/kg bw, which is well below the usual amount consumed by people, did not show any signs of toxicity in rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, MAHSA University, Jalan University Campus, JalanElmu, Off Jalan University, 59100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Madhu Katyayani
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Balijepalli
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, 126, JalanJalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Velan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Suppaiah
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, 126, JalanJalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: An-Me
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, 126, JalanJalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ayuba Sunday
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Buru
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, 126, JalanJalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sreenivasa Rao
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Sagineedu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, 126, JalanJalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mallikarjuna Rao
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Pichika
keywords: Diabetes; Swietenia macrophylla; sky fruit; toxicity; traditional Malay medicine; tunjuk langit