A pharmacological and toxicological evaluation of Haloxylon recurvum

Haloxylon recurvum Bunge ex Boiss (Chenopodiaceae) is distributed chiefly from the Mediterranean region to Central and South Asia and traditionally applied externally for a variety of disorders. We investigated the in vivo toxic potential of crude methanolic extract of the whole plant and its n-hexane, chloroform, butanol, ethylacetate and aqueous soluble fractions by determining their acute toxicity and acute neurotoxicity in mice using Lorke's method and inverted screen test. In vitro studies were also conducted in order to investigate its antilipoxygenase, antibacterial and antifungal activities. All the fractions showed a narrow margin of safety in mice, except the aqueous fraction, which did not produce any mortality even at the highest tested dose (5000 mg kg(-1)). At non-lethal doses, only the aqueous fraction (TD(50) 1264 mg kg(-1)) was found to produce neurotoxicity in mice. In in vitro lipoxygenase inhibition assay, the ethylacetate fraction showed the most significant inhibitory activity. Crude methanolic extract and its butanol soluble fraction showed the most potent antifungal and antibacterial activity for all the materials tested. Thus, this report verifies the traditionally reported toxicity of this plant, as the majority of its components have exhibited a narrow margin of safety, however, they have been found active in in vitro studies, therefore, further studies are required in order to isolate the most active toxic compounds and differentiate them from these fractions.