Acute and Sub-Chronic Toxicity Studies of Aqueous Ethanol Leaf Extract of Vitex negundo L in Experimental Animals

Abstract

To leverage such a valuable medicinal plant in Vietnam, we conducted this study to evaluate the acute and sub-chronic toxicity of aqueous ethanol extracts of Vitex negundo leaf in experimental animals. Materials and Methods Plant materialThe Vitex negundo leaves were collected in the Socson district of Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 5, 2015. The sample was taxonomically authenticated at the Vietnam Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources. The voucher specimen (HMU-VN2018-01) was deposited in the same institute. Extract preparation for animal testingPlant materials (5 kg) were crushed into small pieces and extracted with 70% aqueous ethanol three times (solvent/material ratio, 6/1). The combined extract was then distilled under reduced pressure at 55-60℃ to two-thirds of the original volume and stirred for 24 hours. After that, the extract was filtered to remove settled resin and distilled to remove the organic solvent completely to obtain a concentrated extract weighing 500g. The final extract was stored under refrigerated conditions until further use.