Acute and sub-acute toxicological evaluation of Barleria prionitis Linn. in Wistar albino rats

Despite the wide usage of Barleria prionitis Linn. (Acanthaceae) in traditional medicine, controversial findings have been reported on possible toxic effects of the plant. The present study evaluated the acute and sub-acute toxic/adverse effects of B. prionitis using a healthy Wistar albino rat model. Repeated oral administration of the hexane, ethyl acetate, butanol, and aqueous extracts of the whole plant at therapeutic doses (25, 80, 70, and 120 mg/kg) revealed no mortality or treatmentrelated hematological and biochemical changes in experimental rats. However, statistically significant changes were observed in a few red cell and white cell parameters, suggesting increased erythropoiesis and immunity in experimental rats treated with B. prionitis (p<0.05). The findings on total cholesterol, glucose, and liver function tests revealed potential changes in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and liver functions after treatments. However, the absence of statistically significant changes in the plant treated groups was noted compared to their respective vehicle control groups (p>0.05), and the lack of those changes in male and female rats excludes potential toxic effects from B. prionitis extracts. The findings on the relative weight of organs and histopathology further corroborated the safe use of the selected extracts at doses in therapeutic applications. In conclusion, the findings on acute and 28-day repeated dose oral toxicity assessments of the whole plant extracts resulted in neither mortality nor treatment-related hematological, biochemical, and histopathological changes in healthy Wistar albino rats.