Safety Assessment of Menthamozaffarianii Essential Oil: Acute and Repeated Toxicity Studies

• Main Authors: Dorsa Daneshbakhsh, Jinous Asgarpanah, Parvaneh Najafizadeh, Tayebeh Rastegar, Zahra Mousavi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences 2018-09-01
• Series: Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: Mentha; Mentha mozaffarianii; Essential oil; Toxicity; Rat; Mice
• Online Access: http://ijms.sums.ac.ir/index.php/IJMS/article/view/3728

Background:Menthamozaffarianii, an endemic species from the Labiataefamily, is used in Iranian traditional medicine. This study evaluated the acute and repeated oral toxicity of the Menthamozaffarianii essential oil (MMEO) in rats and mice. Methods:To assess the toxicity profile of the MMEO, we administered the essential oil to 48 rats and mice of both sexes by gavage in acute and repeated models. In acute toxicity, the animals were administered the MMEO (2000 mg/kg) and were monitored for 14 days. In the repeated toxicity, the MMEO was administered (100 mg/kg) daily for 4 weeks. On the 28th day, all the animals were scarified and blood and tissue samples were prepared. All the clinical, biochemical, and histopathological changes were assessed and compared with those in the controls. Statistical significance was determined by one- and two-way analyses of variance, followed by the Tukey test using GraphPad Prism 6. Results: In the acute test, there was no mortality; therefore, the oral LD50 value determined in the mice and rats of both sexes was greater than 2000 mg/kg. In the repeated test, the animals received the MMEO and there was no mortality. In the biochemical analysis, there were significant increases in blood glucose, cholesterol, ALT, AST, ALP, and TSH in the female rats and also in BUN in the male rats. The histopathological studies revealed evidence of microscopic lesions in the liver, kidney, stomach, and small intestine tissues of the MMEO group. Conclusion: The results indicated that the acute toxicity of the MMEO in the mice and rats was of a low order and it revealed slight tissue damage to several organs when given subchronically at a dose of 100 mg/kg.