Research Article CODEN: IJPNL6 SUB-ACUTE (28 DAYS) TOXICITY STUDY OF METHANOL LEAVES EXTRACT OF CLINACANTHUS NUTANS IN RATS

Clinacanthus nutans (Family: Acanthaceae) or locally known as “Sabah snake grass ” in Malaysia, is used for the treatment of herpes simplex infection, herpes zoster infection, diabetes mellitus, skin rash, dysuria and cancer. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety of methanol leaves extract of C. nutans by sub-acute 28-day (repeated doses) oral administration to male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. First group was orally treated with distilled water and served as control (n=6), whereas the remaining treatment groups (n=6) were orally treated with a single dose daily of 300 mg/kg, 600 mg/kg and 900 mg/kg of C. nutans extract, respectively for 28 days. Cage-side observations were done daily. The animal body weight, food consumption and water intake were recorded weekly. Blood was collected via cardiac puncture on day-29 and used to perform biochemical analyses, i.e. liver function tests, kidney function tests, total protein, glucose, lipid profile and haematology evaluation. The relative organ weights were also measured. All results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation and analysed using Dunnett’s test. From the results obtained, repeated oral administration of methanol leaves extract of C. nutans (300 mg/kg, 600 mg/kg and 900 mg/kg) for 28 days did not cause mortality or adverse effects in rats. No significant change was observed in the body weight changed, water and food intake between the treatment group and control group. However, significant increase in serum total proteins (p<0.01), albumin/globulins ratio (p<0.01) and relative live