Oral toxicity of arjunolic acid on hematological, biochemical and histopathological investigations in female Sprague Dawley rats

Khurram Aamir; Hidayat Ullah Khan; Chowdhury Faiz Hossain; Mst Rejina Afrin; Imam Shaik; Naguib Salleh; Nelli Giribabu; Aditya Arya

doi:10.7717/peerj.8045

Oral toxicity of arjunolic acid on hematological, biochemical and histopathological investigations in female Sprague Dawley rats

PeerJ. 2019 Nov 22:7:e8045. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8045. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Khurram Aamir¹, Hidayat Ullah Khan¹, Chowdhury Faiz Hossain², Mst Rejina Afrin², Imam Shaik³, Naguib Salleh⁴, Nelli Giribabu⁴, Aditya Arya^{5

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Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
² Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science and Engineering, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁷ Malaysian Institute of Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals (IPHARM), Bukit Gambir, Gelugor, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.

Abstract

Background: Arjunolic acid (AA) is a potent phytochemical with wider pharmacological activities. Despite potential medicinal properties on various in vitro and in vivo studies, there is still a dearth of scientific data related to its safety profile and toxicological parameters. The current study aimed to investigate acute toxicity of AA in normal female Sprague Dawley rats.

Methods: In this study, AA was administered orally at an individual dose of 300 and 2000 mg/kg body weight to group 1 and 2 respectively, while group 3 served as normal control. All the animals were observed for 2 weeks to determine any behavioral and physical changes. On day 15, blood was collected for hematological and biochemical investigation, later animals from all the three groups were euthanized to harvest and store essential organs for histopathological analysis. Four different staining techniques; hematoxylin and eosin, Masson trichrome, Periodic acid Schiff and Oil O Red were used to investigate any alterations in different tissues through microscopical observation.

Results: The results of the study showed no morbidity and mortality at two different dosage of AA treatment. Daily food & water intake, body weight, relative organ weight, hematological and biochemical parameters were detected to be normal with no severe alteration seen through microscopical investigation in the structure of harvested tissues. Our findings support the safety profile of AA, which was well tolerated at higher dose. Thus, an in-detail study on the subacute disease model is warranted.

Keywords: Acute oral toxicity; Arjunolic acid; Biochemical parameters; Body weight; Food and water intake; Hematological; Histopathology; Microscopical investigation; No mortality; Relative organ weight.

Grants and funding

This study is financially supported by Taylors University Flagship Research Grant (TUFR/2017/002/01) under the umbrella of Ageing and Quality of Life. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.