Toxicity Assessment of Asteraceae Centaurea Repens L Extract in Mice

The species Asteraceae Centaurea repens (Asteraceae), known as Acroptilon repens, andTalkhe in persian is used in folk medicine as an emetic, anti-epileptic, and anti-malaria herbin many parts of the world but its toxic effects have not determined yet. This study aimed toevaluate the acute and subchronic toxicity of this extract to find its possible adverse healtheffects through clinical, hematological, biochemical, and histopathological endpoints in bothgender of mice. Aerial parts of the plant were air-dried and the terpene extract of aerial partsof plant was provided by percolation using methanol, petroleum ether, and diethyl ether. Allclinical, biochemical and histopathological changes were assessed in appropriate endpoints andcompared with control group. Although no mortality was seen in acute study by administratingdoses up to 2000 mg/kg, repeated dose study on 1000 mg/kg doses in 28 days in both gendersshowed liver necrosis and rise of liver enzymes (p-value < 0.05). Histopathological studiesdidn’t show any other organ toxicity in dosed up to 1000 mg/kg. At the same time this studyshowed for the first the antihyperlipidemic properties of the aerial extract of Acroptilin in micemodel. The pharmacological and histopathological results of the present study proved that thetotal parts of Acroptilon repens could be studied for supporting the traditional assertion in folkmedicine to heal hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and cancer in lower doses although we performedthe present study and concluded liver toxicity by subchronic use of Acropitolon repens extract.