Avaliação de efeitos toxicológicos e comportamentais da Hypericum perforatum e da Piper methysticum em ratos

REVISTA BRASILEIRA
DE TOXICOLOGIA
BRAZILIAN JOURNAL
OF TOXICOLOGY

©SOCIEDADE
BRASILEIRA DE
TOXICOLOGIA

Revista Brasileira de Toxicologia 22, n.1-2 (2009) 42-49

Avaliação de efeitos toxicológicos e comportamentais da
Hypericum perforatum e da Piper methysticum em ratos
Lilian Tatiana de Araújo Teixeira1, Lenilton Silva da Silveira Júnior1, Fernando Marlisson de Queiroz1, Claudia
Nunes de Oliveira2, Aline Schwarz3*
1
Farmácia-generalista, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brasil; 2Departamento de Patologia,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brasil; 3Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brasil

Abstract

Hypericum perforatum and Piper methysticum are phytotherapics frequently employed for the treatment of mild to moderate central nervous system depression
There is no conclusive information in literature about the adverse side effects in human health. The aim of this study was to assess if these phytotherapics can promote toxic and/or behavioral alterations in rats. Adult male Wistar rats (17) were randomly divided into three groups. Two experimental groups (n=6) were treated by gavage with an aqueous solution obtained from commercial extracts of H. perforatum (15% m/v - 2 mg/kg/day of hypericine) or P. methysticum (7.5% m/v - 85.7 mg/kg/day of kavapirones). The control group (n=5) received only water by gavage. At day 31 the animal behavior was analyzed in the open field, elevated plus-maze and employing the forced swimming test. The animals were sacrificed for serum and tissues samples collection, allowing the biochemical and histopathological studies. The statistical analysis employed revealed no behavioral changes and absence of alterations at the parameters body weight gain, food and water intake, ALT, AST, urea and creatinine serum levels, and in the histopathological study. The data obtained show that rats treated