European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ACUTE TOXICITY OF FORMULATION COMPRISING CYMBOPOGON CITRATUS ESSENTIAL OIL AND JATROPHA CURCAS FIXED OIL IN SWISS ALBINO MICE

Biniam Endale*, Mekbeb Afework and Asfaw Debella

ABSTRACT

Background: Ectoparasites are found widely distributed in all agro-ecological zones of Ethiopia. The problems they cause can be alleviated through the use of traditional medicinal plants. Cymbopogon citratus is one of the traditional herbs commonly used for such purpose. Objective: It is conducted to profile safety of the C. citratus based anti ectoparasitic formulation through acute toxicity study, and determine the LD-50 (lethal dose) for the formulation. Method: The study is conducted using 48 female mice grouped into seven treatment groups (treated orally by gastric intubation with 1.25%, 1.9%, 2.9%, 4.4%, 6.6%, 9.9% and 15% of 1ml of the formulation per kg), and the control group (treated with distilled water of 1ml/kg). The animals were observed for sign of toxicities, and parameters like body and organ weights were also measured. Result: The acute toxicity study revealed no changes on the general behavior of animals in the treatment groups compared to the control. In this study only animals treated with 15% of the formulation did manifest sign of toxicities after 30 minutes of administration. There was also no animal death observed throughout the study period. In the acute toxicity study no significant organ and body weight changes were observed in all treatment groups compared to the control group. Furthermore, no significant variation was noted in the size, texture and color of the liver and kidneys between the treatment and control groups. Conclusion and Recommendations: The treatment group animals didn’t show any significant change relative to the control group. The formulation is safe at the current study setup, and needs to be checked for prolonged treatment effects through sub-chronic and chronic toxicity studies.

Keywords: Cymbopogon citratus; anti-ectoparasite; medicinal plants; Sub-chronic toxicity; histopathology.