CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The promissory results obtained in previous investigations of Phlegmariurus saururus (Lam.) B. Øllg. show that it is imperative to assess their toxicity in view of a possible therapeutic application. Consequently, it was the objective of this study to determine if the decoction of P. saururus administered acutely produces toxic effects. Following international guidelines, we worked with 4 groups of Wistar rats, 2 consisting of females of 10 weeks and another 2, made up of males of 20 weeks. The animals of the control group received distilled water and those of the treatment group, 2000 mg/kg of the decoction of P. saururus in a single intake. After oral administration by cannula, the animals were observed for 15 days, during the first 6 hours uninterruptedly and daily on the remaining days. At the beginning and at the end of the study, the animals were weighed and their blood was collected on both occasions in order to perform hematological and biochemical tests. The amount of water and food consumed was also determined. At the end of the study, the animals were sacrificed and their organs extracted for histopathological examination. In relation to the behavior, there was a decrease in the degree of exploration and an intensification of the gregarious behavior. All this simultaneously with the appearance of tremor and abdominal contractions (10 minutes after administration of the decoction), reaching its maximum expression 30 minutes after the experiment beginning. These signs slowly decayed, reversing completely at 6 h after the study began. There was no mortality in any group. Analyzing the results of the different studies and tests it was shown that there were no significant differences between the treatment groups and the controls. The results obtained here allow us to infer that decoction would be safe at the effective dose, since the therapeutic range (1 to 30 mg/kg in sexual behavior experiments) is 67 times lower than the toxic range (2000 mg / kg).