Evaluation of the acute and subchronic toxicity of Ziwan Baibu Tang

Abstract

Background: Ziwan Baibu Tang (ZBT) is used as a traditional Chinese prescription used in the clinic to cure a variety of respiratory diseases. The objective of this study was to evaluate the acute and subacute toxicity of ZBT.

Materials and Methods: Fifty Kunming mice were assigned to 5 groups, and ZBT was administered at different concentrations. Symptoms, mortality and behavioural changes were recorded. Eighty Wistar rats were randomly allocated to 4 treatment groups or a control group for 4 weeks of treatment (half male and half female); general observations and weekly body weight (BW) gain were recorded. At the end of the 4-week experiment, the rats were sacrificed, and blood was collected for haematological and serum biochemical analyses. Samples from the primary organs were fixed in 10% buffered formalin for histopathological studies.

Results: The calculated LD₅₀ of acute oral toxicity was 319.16 g/kg BW. After the 4-week treatment, BW did not significantly differ in any of the dose groups, compared with the control group (P>0.05), and the rat blood red blood cell (RBC) and haemoglobin (HGB) levels in each dose group did not significantly differ (P>0.05). In addition, serum urea and creatine levels in each dose group did not significantly differ from those in the control group (P>0.05).

Conclusion: These results indicate that ZBT does not possess toxic potential and that both the acute and subchronic toxicity in animals are very low.

Keywords: Ziwan Baibu Tang, acute, subchronic, toxicity, herbal