Cytotoxicity, Acute, and Subacute Study of Hydroalcoholic Root Extract of Carissa spinarum L. on Wistar Rats.

Carissa spinarum L. (Apocynaceae) is used traditionally, in Africa, to treat many diseases such as malaria, sickle cell anemia, epilepsy, helminthoses, and sexual weakness. The aim of this study is to investigate the cytotoxicity on Artemia salina, the acute and subacute (28 days) oral toxicity of C. spinarum hydroalcoholic root extract on Wistar rats. The cytotoxicity was performed on A. salina larvae. The acute and subacute toxicity was performed using Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development guideline. Malondiadehyde as lipoperoxidation marker was evaluated and expressed according to tissue proteins. The cytotoxicity has shown that the lethal concentration 50 (LC50) was 0.9 mg/mL. The limit test dose of 5000 mg/kg did not provoke death or toxicity signs. For the subacute toxicity, no signs of toxicity or mortality were observed during the experiment. Results of biochemical and hematological parameters have not shown any treatment-related abnormalities, except a significant decrease of alkaline phosphatase at 1000 mg/kg (P < .05) and an increase of chloride ion level at 500 mg/kg (P < .01). There was no significant difference between the treated group and the control group concerning the malondialdehyde concentration, the body weight, and the organs relative weight (P < .05), except for testis at 500 mg/kg (P < .05). According to our results, the hydroalcoholic extract of C. spinarum roots is safe when administrated at 500 mg and 1000 mg/kg to Wistar rats for 28 days.