Oral toxicity of trypanocidal molecules hemi-synthesized in <i>Cymbopogon citratus</i> essential oil

Abstract

To ensure the safety of trypanocidal molecules of thiosemicarbazones hemi-synthesized in essential oil of Cymbopogon citratus, toxicology studies were conducted. These studies which were performed on rats "Wistar" had focused on our most active molecules: citral thiosemicarbazone, citral semicarbazone, citral 4phenylthiosemicarbazone and the starting substrate which was the essential oil of Cymbopogon citratus. From these studies, it appears that citral semicarbazone, citral 4-phenylthiosemicarbazone and essential oil were no toxic as LD 50 > 2000 mg/kg. Citral thiosemicarbazone was slightly more toxic with a LD 50 = 315 mg/kg. The study of biochemical parameters revealed that the use of a high dose of the compounds may affect kidney function. A strong dose of essential oil of Cymbopogon citratus could affect liver function. It appears that the citral 4-phenylthiosemicarbazone is a very promising compound because it had an excellent antitrypanosomal activity and had very low toxicity (IC 50 = 1.96 µM; LD 50 > 2000 mg/kg).