Elsevier

Food and Chemical Toxicology

Volume 97, November 2016, Pages 224-231
Food and Chemical Toxicology

Oral acute and subchronic toxicity studies of the oil extracted from pequi (Caryocar brasiliense, Camb.) pulp in rats

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2016.09.018Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The pequi pulp oil is rich in oleic acid.

  • The toxicological potential of pequi oil was investigated through preclinical studies.

  • The LD50 of pequi oil was higher than 2000 mg/kg body weight.

  • Some hematological abnormalities were found and need to be clarified.

  • Acute and subchronic exposure of the pequi oil resulted in low toxicity.

Abstract

The Caryocar brasiliense (pequi) is a Brazilian fruit of important geographic distribution and of broad popular use for nutritional purposes. This study aimed to evaluate the toxicological potential of pequi through the acute and subchronic toxicity tests. For the acute toxicity test, female Wistar rats received, orally, a single dose of 2000 mg/kg/bw of pequi oil and were observed for 14 days. In subchronic toxicity test, Wistar male and female rats received, orally, repeated doses of 125, 250, 500 or 1000 mg/kg/bw of the oil, being treated and observed for 28 days. In the acute toxicity test, no changes as well as no mortality were observed, indicating that the LD50 is higher than 2000 mg/kg/bw. In the subchronic toxicity test, the tested doses produced no significant changes in behavioral, physiological, biochemical or histopathologic parameters in animals. Some hematological abnormalities were found after subchronic exposure and need to be clarified. These results demonstrate the low toxicity of acute and subchronic to the oil of pequi in rats. However, additional studies are required in order to verify if the hematological abnormalities have any relation to the oil exposure and also provide sufficient safety evidence for the use of the oil in humans.

Introduction

The use of products of vegetable origin, either as functional foods or medicinal plants, continue to expand rapidly throughout the world. Over the last decade in particular, it is possible to observe a significant increase in popular acceptance of natural therapies, both in developed and developing countries (Ekor, 2013). While global consumption of herbal medicines increase, concerns regarding the safety of using these products arise. Many plants that are consumed by the population, although they have promising pharmacological potential, have not been tested for possible adverse effects (Raynor et al., 2011).

Caryocar brasiliense, Camb., popularly known as “pequi” ou “piqui”, is a species that belongs to the Caryocaraceae family. The family is distributed along Central and South America, generally in tropical forests. C. brasiliense is the main representative of the Caryocaraceae family in Brazil and this species is widely distributed and cultivated throughout the Brazilian Cerrado (de Lima et al., 2007). The pulp of the fruit of this tree is used in traditional cuisine because of its distinctive flavor and rich chemical composition. Beyond its food consumption, the pulp and the fruit seed is used for vegetable oil production and in the cosmetic industry (Araujo, 1995). In phytotherapy, fruits and leaves of the plant are used to treat influenza, asthma and other respiratory diseases (Khouri et al., 2007). Pharmacological studies have shown that the plant has antigenotoxic, anti-clastogenic (Miranda-Vilela et al., 2008), anti-inflammatory and hypocholesterolemic activities (Miranda-Vilela et al., 2009a), besides chemopreventive effects in pre-neoplastic lesions in animal models (Palmeira et al, 2015, Colombo et al, 2015).

Regarding the chemical composition of the pulp, studies have shown high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic acid (de Lima et al, 2007, Facioli and Gonçalves, 1998), as well as phenolic compounds and carotenoides (de Lima et al, 2007, Godoy and Rodriguez-Amaya, 1994, Monteiro et al, 2015, Placido et al, 2015). These results show that the pequi pulp has a high antioxidant capacity.

Although C. brasiliense has therapeutic properties that have increased its use for human consumption, few studies have been conducted to assess the toxicological effects. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicological profile of the oil extracted from the pulp of C. brasiliense after a single (acute toxicity) or repeated exposure for 28 days (subchronic toxicity).

Section snippets

Plant material and preparation of oil

C. brasiliense fruits were collected in a Cerrado area from Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul – Brazil (latitude 20° 26′ 34″ South and longitude 54° 38′ 47″ West) according to a permit issued by the Brazilian Environmental Agency (nº 54442-1 – MMA/ICMBio/SISBIO). The fruits were selected according to their state of maturation and then transported to the Laboratory of Food Technology of the Faculty of Engineering, Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD). The fruits were sanitized with water

Results and discussion

Medicinal plants and its derivatives have been widely used an alternative to allopathic drugs worldwide (Oliveira et al., 2011). Despite the high acceptability of the use of medicinal plants by the population, studies that evaluate the toxic pharmacology and potential of these plants are scarce (Almeida et al., 2014). The toxicological studies are necessary to determine the toxicity of products and establish criteria for selecting a safe dose (Farsi et al., 2013).

Regarding the fatty acids in

Conclusion

The results of this study demonstrate low toxicity after acute and subchronic oral exposure to the oil extracted from the pulp of Caryocar brasiliense. The LD50 was established as greater than 2000 mg/kg body weight. The oil did not elicit systemic toxicity after subchronic exposure on the treated animals, nevertheless some hematological abnormalities were found. Since the meaning of these alterations are not clear, further studies in animals and humans are required in order to investigate if

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank CAPES for the financial assistance and Dr. Ghazal Nabi Edavile for providing language help.

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