Chebulinic acid (CA) is an ellagitannins isolated from the dried fruits of Terminalia chebula with diverse pharmacological activities. The present study focused on the acute toxicity of CA in normal Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. CA was administered via oral gavage to different groups in 300 and 2000 mg/kg body weight and vehicle respectively. All the animals were monitored carefully for any physiological or behavioral changes for 14 days. On day 15th animals were euthanized and blood was collected for hematological and biochemical analysis. Different tissues were collected for histopathological study using four different staining techniques (hematoxylin and eosin, Masson's trichrome, periodic acid Schiff and picro sirius red) to observe any pathological alterations. The results highlighted no morbidity and mortality after oral ingestion of CA (300 and 2000 mg/kg). Food and water consumption, body weight, relative organ weight, hematological and biochemical parameters were normal without any gross pathological lesions in harvested tissues. The outcome of the current study supported safety of CA even at high dose. However, further detailed study is required on experimentally disease model to unfold its therapeutic potential in laboratory animals.
Keywords: Acute oral toxicity; Biochemical analysis; Chebulinic acid; Hematological; Histopathology.
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