Acute toxicity profile of ethanolic extracts of Croton gratissimus Burch and Schrankia leptocarpa DC in rats: Medicinal plants used in the treatment of arterial hypertension in Beninese traditional medicine

Croton gratissimus Burch. and Schrankia leptocarpa DC. are two plants from the Beninese flora which are traditionally used for the treatment of arterial hypertension. The present study investigated the acute toxicity of ethanolic extracts of these plants. The experiment was conducted according to OECD guideline 423 categories 5 using a single dose of 5000mg/kg of the extracts. The average lethal doses (LD 50 ) of the extracts are higher than 5000 mg/kg body weight. The oral administration of C. gratissimus and Schrankia leptocarpa extracts to the rats of all groups provoked a significant decrease in the plasma levels of AST ( P < 0.05) compared to the control batch between day 1 and day 14. There was no significant alteration in the creatinine levels in the all treated groups. The authors results showed that acute treatments with C. gratissimus and Schrankia leptocarpa extracts significantly (p<0.05) elevated serum total protein. However, the administration of the Schrankia leptocarpa extract to rats resulted in a statistically significant decrease (p< 0.05) in WBCs, GRA in the different batches between day 1 and day 14. The Schrankia leptocarpa extract caused a significant increase (p< 0.05) in MCV, in haematocrit, in blood platelets between day 1 and day 14. The C. gratissimus extract caused a significant increase (p<0.05) in blood platelets, in neutrophil in the different batches between day 1 and day 14. It appears that the extracts can be used therapeutically and that C. gratissimus may have hepatoprotective and immunostimulatory effects. Finally, Schrankia leptocarpa in addition to an immunostimulant effect could prevent microcytic anaemia.