Acute Toxicity and Effect of Ethanolic Extract of Curcuma longa on Haematological Indices in Albino Rats

Abstract

This experiment examines ethanolic extract of Curcuma longa rhizome for acute
toxicity, phytochemical and elemental constituents and haematological indices
in albino rats using standard laboratory procedures. Lorke’s method is used to
evaluate the acute oral toxicity of the plant using twelve rats. Administration of
2900 mg/kg maximum dose did not produce mortality or general signs of toxicity
for 24 hours. Fifteen rats grouped randomly into three groups (A, B and C) and
blood sample collected from the tail vein of each of the rats for the determination
of some hematological indices were weighed and used for the study. All the rats
in group A, B and C were treated orally with the ethanolic extract using 200mg/
kg, 400mg/kg and 600mg/kg respectively daily for 21 days. Blood samples were
collected from the tail vein of the rats at the end of every week and were analysed
for mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH)
and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC). The ethanolic
extract of Curcuma longa rhizome is found to contain chemically active compounds
of pharmacological importance like cardiac glycoside, terpenoids, saponins,
flavonoids, anthraquinones, carbohydrate and soluble starch. The elemental
analysis of the extract reveals the presence of iron, zinc, calcium, manganese,
magnesium, chlorine, sodium, potassium and sulphate. The extract was observed
to have no significant effect on MCV values; however it significantly increased
the MCH and MCHC values in week three of treatment in the treated rats thus the
plant can be effectively used in the management of anemia.