Toxicological evaluation of the aqueous extract of Caralluma europaea and its immunomodulatory and inflammatory activities

Abstract

Background:Caralluma europaea (CE) has been studied for its chemical constituents, and no information is available on its toxicity or its pharmacological activities.Objective:To determine the toxicity of an aqueous extract of CE stems in vitro and in vivo after acute and subchronic oral gavages in Swiss albino's mice and its immunomodulatory and inflammatory activities.Materials and Methods:The extract was administrated in single oral dose at 5 g/kg body weight for the acute toxicity test and by gavages daily at doses of 1, 2.5, or 5 g/kg for 30 consecutive days for the subchronic toxicity test. The immunomodulatory activities and inflammatory activities were tested by the evaluation of hemagglutination antibodies (HAs) titers and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response.Results:For the dose of 1 g/kg, no visible toxic effects were observed. However, for the higher doses, clinical observations of toxicity were noted after 1 week of treatment. This was confirmed by the biochemical parameters values and the histology analyses of the spleen, liver, and kidney tissues. The high cellular mortality rate in vitro when treated with CE extract confirmed their toxicity potential. There was also increase of “HA titer” and “DTH” response in mice treated with nontoxic dose of CE (1 g/kg) compared to control group. This immune activity was confirmed by the high number of lymphocytes infiltrates noted in the different organs.Conclusion:We conclude that CE at the dose up of 1 g/kg produced toxic effect in mice that induced an immune inflammatory reaction.SUMMARY Caralluma europaea (CE) has been studied for its chemical constituents, and no information is available on its toxicity or its pharmacological activities. The objective is to determine the toxicity of an aqueous extract of CE stems in vitro and in vivo after acute and subchronic oral gavages in Swiss albino's mice and its immunomodulatory and inflammatory activities. For the dose of 1 g/kg, no visible toxic effects were observed. However, for the higher doses, clinical observations of toxicity were noted after 1 week of treatment. This was confirmed by the biochemical parameters values and the histology analyses of the spleen, liver, and kidney tissues. The high cellular mortality rate in vitro confirmed their toxicity potential. There was also increase of “hemagglutination antibody titer” and “delayed-type hypersensitivity” response in mice treated with nontoxic dose of CE (1 g/kg) compared to control group. This immune activity was confirmed by the high number of lymphocytes infiltrates noted in the different organs. We conclude that CE at the dose up of 1 g/kg produced toxic effect in mice that induced an immune inflammatory reaction. Abbreviations Used: CE: Caralluma europaea, ALT: Alanine aminotransferase, AST: Aspartate aminotransferase, RRBCs: Rat red blood cells, DTH: Delayed-type hypersensitivity response, PBS: Phosphate buffer solution.

Traditional medicinal knowledge of plants used for cancer treatment by communities of mountainous areas of Fez-Meknes-Morocco

“…Some plant species are used against cancer in the study area despite their toxicities such as Apteranthes europaea Guss ( Issiki et al, 2017 ) , Aristolochia longa L. ( Benarba et al, 2017 ), Capparis spinosa L. ( Fanoudi et al, 2017 ), Nigella sativa L. ( Zaoui et al, 2002 ), Artemisia herba-alba Asso . ( Bertella et al, 2018 ), Berberis hispanica Boiss.…”

Protective Effect of Chemically Characterized Polyphenol-Rich Fraction from Apteranthes europaea (Guss.) Murb. subsp. maroccana (Hook.f.) Plowes on Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Liver Injury in Mice

“…In traditional medicines, the aerial parts of A. europaea are recommended for use as a juice or as a powder mixed with honey or milk to fight diseases [5]. Some pharmacological activities of A. europaea including anti-inflammatory, anti-cyst, anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-gastrointestinal disorders, anti-atherosclerosis, anti-hyperglycemia, anticancer, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and cytotoxic have been investigated elsewhere [6][7][8][9][10].…”