Safety Assessment of Carduus pycnocephalus hydroalcoholic Extract in Female Mice: Acute and Repeated Oral Toxicity Studies

The genus Carduus belongs to Asteraceae family and is used to treat different human diseases, like cold, stomachache, and rheumatism. The current research investigated acute and repeated dose toxicity of Carduus pycnocephalus extract in mice.

Acute and repeated-dose toxicity experiments were performed in female mice according to OECD 423 and 407 guidelines, respectively. Physical observations were made regularly and body weight was weekly measured. The organs weight, histopathology, and blood chemistry were then analyzed. Statistical analysis was done by the GraphPad Prism 8 software, and the results were presented as mean ± SEM. P values below 0.05 were considered significant.

No treatment-related mortalities were observed by oral administration of C.pycnocephalus extract up to the dose of 2000mg/kg. However, food consumption and water intake showed some variations in treated groups, and there were not any significant abnormalities related to treatment in treated groups in comparison to that in the control group in repeated-dose toxicity examination. Moreover, no significant alterations were noted in organ and body weight, food consumption, histopathology, and biochemical parameters in treated groups in comparison to the control group. Normal histological morphology was observed in all dose ranges and controls, except for the liver of high dose-treated samples which showed lymphocytic infiltrate and hepatocytes degeneration.

LD50 of C.pycnocephalus extract could be above 2000mg/kg in acute toxicity experiment. Furthermore, with sub-chronical administration of the extract at a dose of 200 mg/kg, liver tissue was slightly damaged.