Evaluation of Acute and Subchronic Toxicity Induced by the Crude Ethanol Extract of Plukenetia volubilis Linneo Leaves in Swiss Albino Mice

Abstract

Plukenetia volubilis Linneo (P. volubilis), or Sacha inca, is an oleaginous plant from the Euphorbiaceae family. The presence of terpenoids, saponins, tannins, glycosides, phytosterols, and phenolic compounds in the ethanol extracts of P. volubilis L leaves has been reported, showing a range of bioactivities including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and analgesia. However, the safety of this plant has not yet been reported explicitly. This study thus is aimed at evaluating the toxicity of the ethanol extract of P. volubilis leaves (EtPV) by acute and subchronic toxicity tests in Swiss albino mice following standard procedures set by The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with slight modifications. In the acute toxicity test, the treatment groups were administered orally with the EtPV at doses of 1000, 3000, 5000, and 7000 mg/kg body weight in small fractions during 16 hours, and the mice were then observed in 14 consecutive days. In the subchronic toxicity study, the EtPV was given at doses of 100, 300, 500, and 700 mg/kg body weight for 90 days. Changes in behavior, mortality rate, and body and the weights of vital organs, hematology, clinical biochemistry, urine analysis, and histologic morphology were evaluated. The acute toxicity study showed that the EtPV causes no sign of toxicity or mortality. The hematological, biochemical and urine analyses, changes in the weight of the body and vital organs (heart, liver and kidney), and histopathological analyses of organs indicated no evidence of toxicity at any doses. It was also revealed that oral administration of EtPV is safe at the oral doses set by acute and subchronic toxicity tests, and the oral lethal dose for the EtPV is higher than 7000 mg/kg. This study is the first to confirm the safety of P. volubilis leaf ethanol extract, and as a result, encouraging further investigation to examine EtPV potential for traditional medicine.

Anti-Arthritis Effect of Ethanol Extract of Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) Leaves Against Complete Freund’s Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis Model in Mice

“…The toxicity of ethanol extract of Sacha inchi leaves was investigated in the previous study which confirmed EtPV safety at doses of up to 7,000 mg/kg (acute toxicity test) and 700 mg/kg (sub-chronic toxicity test) ( Tran & Tran 2021 ). Three doses of EtPV (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg), therefore, were selected to be used in this study.…”

“…Even though phytochemical screening of ethanol extract of Sacha inchi leaves has been studied in a previous study, different time points and locations of the specimen collection as well as the difference in extraction techniques could alter the chemical composition of the extract ( Tran & Tran 2021 ). Hence, the phytochemical screening to standardise extract before further experiment is an indispensable task.…”

“…2015 ). Recently, Tran and Tran (2021) have proved that utilisation of ethanol extract from Sacha inchi leaves is safe but its biological activity, such as its anti-arthritis effect, has not been proven yet. In this study, we evaluated the anti-arthritis effect of ethanol extract from Sacha inchi leaves in Freund’s Complete Adjuvant (CFA)-induced rheumatoid arthritis model and investigated the mechanism of the anti-arthritis effect of the extract.…”

Evaluation of acute, subacute toxicity and in vivo impact of aqueous decoction of Flemingia faginea Guill. & Perr. (Barker) leafy stems on NMRI mice and normotensive Wistar rats

“…This reduction in weight gain would be interesting given the harmful effects of excess weight on cardiovascular health. Nevertheless, these non-significant observations could not constitute a proof of toxicity because the relative weight of the vital organs did not vary considerably 19,20 . Furthermore, analysis of hematological parameters through blood count did not reveal significant changes in absolute values of red blood cells, leukocytes, and thrombocytes 21 .…”

Shift in the rhizosphere soil fungal community associated with root rot infection of Plukenetia volubilis Linneo caused by Fusarium and Rhizopus species

“…Plukenetia volubilis Linneo, also referred to as sacha inchi, Inca peanut, wild peanut, sacha peanut, or mountain peanut, is an oleaginous plant in the family Euphorbiaceae (Chirinos et . Due to its excellent potential as an economic crop, P. volubilis has been introduced into Southeast Asia (Norhazlindah et al 2022;Tran et al 2021). Altogether, P. volubilis is cultivated almost in 20 different countries, predominantly in Latin America, Peru being the largest producer, with nearly 1200 tonnes of seeds for annual production (Tran et al 2021).…”