ACUTE TOXICITY EVALUATION OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF ARISTOLOCHIA ALBIDA DUCH. LEAVES ON WISTAR RATS LIVER AND KIDNEY FUNCTIONS

Objective: Aristolochia albida Duch is frequently used by alternative medicine to treat some pathologies like hepatitis. Our main objective was to evaluate the acute oral toxicity of the ethanolic extract of this plant. Methods: Exploratory tests for acute oral toxicity are performed in vivo on Wistar albino rats in a limit test of 2000 mg/kg for 14 d in accordance with the OECD Guidelines 423. The clinical signs were observed every day, followed by measurement of body weight change, the haematological and biochemical examinations were executed and statistical analysis was performed. Results: The various clinical signs observed after administration and for 14 d were recorded and no mortality was observed. With the exception of white blood cells, mean cell volume and platelets with statistically significant difference in control (p 0.05). For biochemical parameters, except blood glucose and total protein of control batches, which show a significant statistical difference after 14 d (p>0.05), all the biochemical parameters show the statistically insignificant difference for test and controls batches (p>0.05) as well as the weight variation of the animals. Conclusion: The ethanolic extract of the leaves of A. albida Duch (EEAr) had not toxic effect on the biochemical and hematological parameters studied at a dose of 2000 mg/kg. The lethal dose is therefore over 2000 mg/kg.