Safety assessment of standardized aqueous Brucea javanica extract in rats

The seeds of Brucea javanica and its aqueous decoction is a traditional medicine consumed by diabetic patients in Malaysia. The daily consumption of B. javanica seeds and it's aqueous decoction causes much concern as the quassinoids and its glycosides from the seeds exhibited various pharmacological activity at low doses.

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the repeated dose toxicity of the standardized aqueous extract administered daily for 30 days through oral administration at its effective hypoglycemia doses.

The seeds were dried, ground and extracted in deionized water. A HPLC-photodiode array method was developed and validated for the standardization of both the hypoglycemia agents, namely bruceine D and E in aqueous extract. Both normoglycemia and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats were fed orally with 15, 30 and 60mg/kg body weight of standardized aqueous extract. The blood glucose was measured at 0-8h. In repeated dose toxicity, similar doses were administered orally to rats for 30 days. At the end of 30 days, the blood was withdrawn and subjected to biochemical and haematology analysis while organs were harvested for histology analysis.

Oral administration of standardized aqueous extract exhibited a dose-response relationship in both the normoglycemia and STZ-induced diabetic rats. Daily oral administration of 15, 30 and 60mg/kg standardized aqueous extract for 30 days to rats did not show signs to toxicity in its biochemical, haematology and histology analysis.

In conclusion, although the seeds were reported to contain compounds with various pharmacological activity, the daily oral administration to rats for 30 days do not showed signs of toxicity at its effective hypoglycemia doses.