Assessment of Larval Toxicity and the Teratogenic Effect of Three Medicinal Plants Used in the Traditional Treatment of Urinary Tract Infections in Benin

Abstract

Objective. Mangifera indica Linn, Bridelia ferruginea Benth, and Alstonia boonei De Wild are three plants commonly used in the traditional treatment of urinary tract infections in Benin. This study sets out to assess the cytotoxic and teratogenic effects of extracts of these plants on Artemia salina larvae and hen embryos. Methods and Results. The aqueous and ethanolic extracts were obtained by maceration of the powders in solvents. Larval cytotoxicity was performed on Artemia salina larvae. The teratogenic effect of these plants was evaluated on chick embryos at 100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg. The extracts were injected on the 7th and 14th days of incubation. The quality of the hatched chicks was evaluated by the Tona score followed by the hematological and the biochemical parameter assays. The extracts did not show cytotoxicity on the larvae. The eggs treated with plant extracts at 300 mg/kg significantly lowered the hatchability rate, except for the Mangifera indica Linn. The chicks obtained were all at the very good quality. Then, no significant variation was observed between hematological parameters except white blood cells. For the biochemical parameters, only ASAT showed some significant variations for a few extracts. It would be important to assess the genotoxicity of the plant extracts to determine more broader toxicity. These data justify the use of these medicinal plants in traditional Beninese medicine and constitute in fact a source of production of anti-infectious drugs.

Assessment of the Teratogenic Effect of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine on the Chicken Embryo

“…Indeed, the storage of eggs before incubation can deteriorate the internal quality of the eggs, especially the height of the albumen which, during incubation, the albumin proteins move into the amniotic fluid and are swallowed by the embryo which are then either digested in the intestine or transferred to the yolk sac where they can be used after hatching. The same observations have been made by Assogba et al [ 18 ]. The good quality of the chicks obtained in this study could be justified by the fact that this work was carried out on visibly clean 24-hour-old eggs without any spots on the shell.…”

“…Late mortality due to a substance was also reported in 2015 by Saleemi et al [ 19 ]. The same observations were made by Assogba et al [ 18 ]. The latter have shown that from the 10th day of incubation, the embryonic development has evolved a lot and other organs are already in place and functional.…”

“…In addition, the heart, the first functional organ from the fourth or fifth day of incubation could be exposed to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. By this mechanism of embryonic development, it could be deduced that the early embryonic death obtained in this study would be due to the exposure of the heart to the administered product [ 18 ]. This gradual decrease in nonhatch rates observed in SPJ12, SPJ16, and SPJ18 batches would show embryo resistance to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.…”