Sub-chronic toxicity study

Embelia schimperi is widely used in traditional medicine in many countries including Ethiopia. There are several reports about the pharmacological properties of Embelia schimperi such as ethno-antihelminthics, anti-bacterials and other activities. However, there are no published reports about the possible toxicological effects of this plant. The present study was designed to evaluate the acute and the sub-chronic toxicity of Embelia schimperi fruit crude methanolic extract. The toxicity study of the plant was carried out on adult Swiss albino mice and the study included gross observation and measurements of changes in body weight, hematological parameters , biochemical parameters and histopathology of liver and kidney of both experimental and control groups of mice. The mice were divided into three groups (12animals/dose) and were administered different doses (400 and 1200mg/kgbwt) of the plant extract orally for eight consecutive weeks. The control group of animals received 2% Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The body weight of all animals in each group was measured in the beginning and in the end of the experimental period.