acute and subchronic toxicity of teucrium polium total extract in rats

teucrium polium l. (tp) is widely used in traditional medicine of many countries including iran. there are various reports about pharmacological properties of tp such as calcium antagonist, anti- ulcer, anti – diabetic. there are a few reports about possible toxicological effects of this plant. in the present study we designed to evaluate the subchronic toxicity of teucrium polium total extract in rats. sprague dawley rats (40 males, 40 females) were divided into four dose groups (10 animals/dose/sex) and were gavaged daily with either 100, 300 or 600 mg/kg of the total extract for 44 days. control group was received normal saline. body weight and food consumption was monitored daily. after 45 days animal was sacrificed and hematological and biochemical parameters, as well as weight of left kidney and liver were measured. there was no significant difference in hematological parameters in both sexes as compared to their respective controls. in biochemical parameters, a significant increase (p<0.05) was seen in both alt and ast enzyme activities in female rats receiving 300 mg/kg tp. there was also a significant increase in liver weight of male rats receiving 600 mg/kg. no other significant changes in any other parameter were observed. present data suggests that female rats are more sensitive to higher doses of tp and that liver could serve as a target organ toxicity of this extract.