Acute and Reproductive Toxicity of the Aqueous Extract of the Dry Seeds of <i>Aframomum daniellii </i> on the Female Wistar Rat Strain

This work was designed to investigate the acute and reproductive toxicity activity of the aqueous extract of the dry seeds of Aframomum daniellii on the female rats. The acute toxicity of the aqueous extract of Aframomum daniellii (A. daniellii) was evaluated with 6 female rats which were divided into 2 groups (1 Test group and the Control group) of 3 female rats each. The control group received distilled water (10 mL/kg/po) and the test group received a single dose of extract of A. daniellii at the dose of 2000 mg/kg. The reproductive toxicity was evaluated using 45 adult female rats which were divided into 5 groups. Group I, received distilled water (1 mL/100 g/po, neutral control); group II, received Clomiphene citrate (600 μg/kg/po, positive control); Groups III, IV and V (trials) received aqueous extract of A. daniellii at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/po respectively. The animals were treated daily for 14 days. From the 6th day of treatment, the rats were mated with males of proven fertility for 8 days. On day 22, after laparotomy and delivery, the number of implantation sites, corpora lutea, resorption sites and pups were recorded. Concerning the acute toxicity, it was observed that, after the single dose of 2000 mg/kg administration of the aqueous extract of the dry seeds of A. daniellii, no deaths were recorded. Concerning the reproductive toxicity, no implantation and gestation were observed when compared to the control. However, the aqueous extract of A. daniellii caused a significant (p < 0.001) increase in serum estrogen levels in all treated rats when compared to the control. These results indicate that, the aqueous extract of the dry seeds of A daniellii is weakly toxic, but could negatively affect some reproductive parameters.