Preclinical In vivo Acute Toxicity Testing of Hyrdoethanolic Extracts of Ficus thonningii Blume (Moraceae) on Wistar Rat Models

Abstract

Ficus thonningii (Blume) is a medicinal plant whose biological activity has been demonstrated in the management of peptic ulcers. Unfortunately, little scientific data exists on its toxicity. This is why we studied the acute and subacute oral toxicity profile of the hydro-ethanolic extract of the bark of F. thonningii and the systemic exposure of the bioactive components of the plant.Acute toxicity was assessed by administering a single dose of 2000 mg/kg to 5-week-old rats and observed for 14 days. The subacute toxicity study was performed in 6-week-old rats. Animals were orally treated with a daily dose of 125 mg/kg, 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg extract for 28 days. A satellite group of animals received 500 mg/kg per day for 28 days and after discontinuation of treatment they were observed for 14 days. Hematological and blood biochemical parameters, as well as kidney and liver histology, were recorded at the end of each experiment. For acute treatment, administration of a dose of 2000 mg/kg did not induce any critical behavioral changes or deaths. Following subacute dosing, biochemical analysis revealed a slight elevation of liver parameters in the 500mg/kg hydroethanolic extract, while no significant increase was observed for kidney parameters. This study showed that daily administration of Ficus thonningii (Blume) for 28 days resulted in the potential to reverse impairment of liver function.