Huang Weihuan, Li Yaolan, Wang Hui, Su Miaoxian, Jiang Zhenyou, Ooi Vincent E C, Chung Hau Yin
Department of Chemistry, Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
Nat Prod Commun. 2009 Sep;4(9):1227-30.
Wikstroemia indica, a commonly used herbal medicine in China, is thought to be poisonous. However, based on the experience of herbal doctors, it is claimed that the toxicity can be reduced by decocting for 3-5 hours. In this study, the acute toxicities of W. indica (crude drug), and its aqueous and ethanolic extracts were evaluated in mice. The cytotoxicities of both extracts were also assessed using the MTT and LDH assays. Also, in order to evaluate the influence of decoction time on the toxicity of W. indica extracts, the cytotoxicities of W. indica decoctions prepared by boiling the herb for 1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 hours, respectively, were tested. Neither the herb nor its aqueous and ethanolic extracts showed obvious acute toxicity in mice, with maximal tolerance doses higher than 18.7, 11.7, and 25.0 g/kg p.o., respectively. The cytotoxicities of both extracts were low with CC50 values higher than 250 microg/mL. The five W. indica decoctions also showed low cytotoxicity, with CC50 values higher than 1000 microg (crude drug)/mL. Moreover, the result of statistical analysis indicated that the cytotoxicities of the five W. indica decoctions did not exhibit significant differences. The results obtained suggest that W. indica is a relatively nontoxic herb and longer decoction times for reducing the toxicity of the herb seems unnecessary.
了哥王是中国常用的草药，被认为有毒。然而，根据草药医生的经验，据称通过煎煮3 - 5小时可降低其毒性。在本研究中，对了哥王（生药）及其水提取物和乙醇提取物在小鼠中的急性毒性进行了评估。还使用MTT和LDH测定法评估了两种提取物的细胞毒性。此外，为了评估煎煮时间对了哥王提取物毒性的影响，分别测试了将该草药煮沸1、3、5、8和10小时制备的了哥王煎剂的细胞毒性。该草药及其水提取物和乙醇提取物在小鼠中均未表现出明显的急性毒性，最大耐受剂量分别高于18.7、11.7和25.0 g/kg口服。两种提取物的细胞毒性均较低，CC50值高于250μg/mL。五种了哥王煎剂的细胞毒性也较低，CC50值高于1000μg（生药）/mL。此外，统计分析结果表明，五种了哥王煎剂的细胞毒性没有显著差异。所得结果表明，了哥王是一种相对无毒的草药，延长煎煮时间以降低其毒性似乎没有必要。
