title: Acute and sub-chronic toxicity of tetrandrine in intravenously exposed female BALB/c mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the acute and sub-chronic toxicity of intravenously administered tetrandrine (TET) in female BALB/c mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  The median lethal dose (LD50) of intravenously administered TET was calculated in mice using Dixon's up-and-down method. In the acute toxicity study, mice were intravenously administered with TET at a single dose of 20, 100, 180, 260 and 340 mg/kg, respectively and were evaluated at 14 days after administration. In the sub-acute toxicity study, mice were intravenously administered various doses of TET (30, 90 and 150 mg/kg) each day for 14 consecutive days. Clinical symptoms, mortality, body weight, serum biochemistry, organ weight and histopathology were examined at the end of the experiment, as well as after a 1-week recovery period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  LD50was found to be 444.67±35.76 mg/kg. In the acute toxicity study, no statistically signifificant differences in body weight, blood biochemistry, or organ histology were observed between the administration and control groups when mice were intravenously administered with single dose at 20, 100, 180, 260 and 340 mg/kg of TET (P >0.05). In the sub-acute toxicity study, no signifificant changes in body weight, biochemistry and organ histology were observed with up to 90 mg/kg of TET compared with the control group (P >0.05), however, in the 150 mg/kg administered group, TET induced transient toxicity to liver, lungs and kidneys, but withdrawal of TET can lead to reversal of the pathological conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall fifindings of this study indicate that TET is relatively non-toxic from a single dose of 20, 100, 180, 260 or 340 mg/kg, and that up to 90 mg/kg daily for 14 consecutive days can be considered a safe application dose.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology First Affiliated Hospital and Institute of Mycology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.|Department of Dermatology Shenzhen Shajing Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518104, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology First Affiliated Hospital and Institute of Mycology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
authors.forename: Shui-Xiu
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Fetal-Preterm Labor Medicine, Medical College of Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
authors.forename: Zheng-Lai
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Institute of Dermstology, Guangzhou, 510095, China.
authors.forename: Ai-Li
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology First Affiliated Hospital and Institute of Mycology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology First Affiliated Hospital and Institute of Mycology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. tzhangh@jnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D061605:Administration, Intravenous; D000818:Animals; D044182:Benzylisoquinolines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000187:drug effects; D023382:Toxicity Tests, Acute; D036401:Toxicity Tests, Chronic
chemical_list: D044182:Benzylisoquinolines; C009438:tetrandrine
keywords: Chinese medicine; acute and sub-chronic toxicity; female BALB/c mice; tetrandrine