Phytochemical constituents and teratogenic effect of lyophilized extracts of Bixa orellana L. (Achuete) and piper betle L. (Ikmo) leaves in Danio rerio embryos

This work highlighted the preliminary chemical screening and toxic and teratogenic effects of lyophilized extracts of leaves of Bixa orellana and Piper betle in developing zebrafish, Danio rerio, embryos. Chemical analysis revealed that both B. orellana and P. betle contained flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, and saponins in varying amount while the former has an addition of terpenoids and the latter has tannins as additional compounds present. In toxicity assay, a 100% mortality of embryos was observed at 10000 μg/ml concentration after 36 hours and at 5000 μg/ml concentration after 48 hours of exposure in both plants. Plant extracts affect the hatchability of embryos, which can be accounted to the observed delayed development. Coagulated embryo was the most distinct toxic effect while delayed development and tail malformation were the most observed teratogenic effects of both plant extracts