Acute Oral Toxicity Assessment of Freeze-Dried Lipote Fruit Extract (Syzygium polycephaloides (C. B. Rob.) Merr.) in ICR Mice

Abstract

Introduction: Lipote (Syzygium polycephaloides (C. B. Rob.) Merr.) has been traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine due to its nutritional and bioactive contents. Methods: An acute oral toxicity test was conducted following the OECD 425 guidelines to investigate the toxic effects of freeze-dried lipote fruit extract (LFE) in male and female ICR mice at doses of 55, 175, 550, 2000, and 5000 mg/kg BW. Results: At the end of the 14-day experimentation period, no physical, behavioral, neurologic, or cardiorespiratory signs of toxicity nor mortalities were recorded in LFE-treated mice. Also, physiologic parameters such as body weight, and feed and water intake registered normal throughout the study. Hematologic values such as total RBC, total WBC, and differential WBC for both sexes remained normal, apart from the male mouse administered with 2000 mg/kg LFE dose which presented erythrocytopenia, leukocytopenia, and lymphocytopenia after the end of the experimentation period, most likely due to extraneous factors unrelated to treatment. Meanwhile, the blood creatinine and blood urea nitrogen values remained within their respective normal reference ranges. Conclusion: It can be inferred from results of this acute oral toxicity study that LFE is relatively non-toxic, has an LD50 above 5000 mg/kg, and like other closely related Syzygium berries, does not elicit any adverse effects on the physiologic, hematologic, and blood chemical levels of kidney-filtered substances in mice. Sub-chronic and chronic toxicity studies must be conducted to determine the safety of continuous oral ingestion of lipote fruit. Key words: Acute toxicity, Lipote, Mice, Philippine berry, Safety.