Contribution to the Preclinical Safety Assessment of Lannea velutina and Sorindeia juglandifolia Leaves

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 130
• Main Authors: Malú, Quintino, Lima, Katelene, Malmir, Maryam, Pinto, Rui, da Silva, Isabel Moreira, Catarino, Luís, Duarte, Maria Paula, Serrano, Rita, Rocha, João, Lima, Beatriz Silva, Silva, Olga
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.12.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Ames test; Biocompatibility; Biomarkers; Blood; Body weight; Creatinine; Dermatitis; Drug dosages; Flavonoids; Food; Food consumption; Food intake; Gallic acid; Genotoxicity; Herbal medicine; In vivo methods and tests; Inflammatory diseases; Lannea velutina; Leaves; Liquid chromatography; Malaria; Medicinal plants; Medicine; Metabolic activation; Metabolic rate; Mutation; Plant extracts; repeated-dose oral toxicity; Safety; Seeds; Sorindeia juglandifolia; Statistical analysis; Toxicity; Guinea Bissau; genotoxicity; Lannea velutina; Ames test; Sorindeia juglandifolia; repeated-dose oral toxicity
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants12010130

Dried leaves of A. Rich. and (A. Rich.) Planch. ex Oliv. (family Anacardiaceae) are used in African traditional medicine. Although these medicinal plants have widespread use in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, there is no scientific data concerning their preclinical or clinical safety. This work aimed to investigate the phytochemical properties of the leaves of both species using HPLC-UV/DAD, as well as the in vivo oral repeated-dose toxicity of 70% hydroethanolic leaf extract of and the in vitro genotoxicity of 70% hydroethanolic leaf extracts of and . Clinical signs of toxicity, body weight variations, and changes in food consumption, mortality, and blood biochemical parameters were monitored. Genotoxicity was assessed using the bacterial reverse mutation assay (Ames test) with and without metabolic activation, according to OECD guidelines. The obtained results showed the presence of gallic acid and anacardic acid as the main marker constituents in both species. No significant changes in general body weight or food intake were observed; small significant changes with no critical relevance were observed in the blood biochemistry of animals treated with hydroethanolic extract (50, 400, and 1000 mg/kg body weight) compared to those in the control group. No genotoxicity was observed in the bacterial reverse mutation assay with and extracts (up to 5 mg/plate). The safety data obtained in vivo and lack of genotoxic potential in vitro points to the safe medicinal use of and extracts.