Laboratory of Pharmacology, Chulabhorn Research Institute, Kamphaeng Phet 6 Road, Lak Si, Bangkok 10210, Thailand.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Nov;50(11):3949-55. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2012.07.068. Epub 2012 Aug 10.
Longan seed extract (LSE) contains high levels of beneficial polyphenolic compounds. The present study evaluated acute and repeated dose (4 and 13 weeks) toxicological effects of aqueous extract of longan seed to ensure the safety of utilization of this extract. Our study revealed that all treated animals survived through the whole experimental periods without adverse effects observed in either sex of animals after acute and repeated dose (4 and 13 weeks) oral administration of LSE. Likewise, growth pattern (body weights, food consumption, and relative organ weights), hematology analysis, and clinical biochemistry analysis in all LSE-treated animals were in normal physiological ranges. Moreover, histopathological finding of LSE-treated animals in repeated dose studies demonstrated no obvious alterations. Although the significant increment in food consumption of female rats (100 mg/kg, Week 4) and % eosinophil of male rats (400 mg/kg), and decrement in food consumption of male rats (250 mg/kg, Week 3 and 9) were observed, these alterations were not dose- and time-response relationships. Therefore, we concluded that acute and repeated dose (4 and 13 weeks) oral administration of LSE has no significant toxicological effects;hence it may be safe to use with caution pending its chronic toxicity study and/or clinical trial.
桂圆核提取物（LSE）含有高水平的有益多酚化合物。本研究评估了龙眼核水提物的急性和重复剂量（4 和 13 周）毒性作用，以确保该提取物的使用安全。我们的研究表明，所有接受治疗的动物在整个实验期间都存活下来，无论是在急性和重复剂量（4 和 13 周）口服 LSE 后雄性还是雌性动物均未观察到不良反应。同样，所有接受 LSE 治疗的动物的生长模式（体重、食物消耗和相对器官重量）、血液学分析和临床生化分析均在正常生理范围内。此外，重复剂量研究中 LSE 处理动物的组织病理学发现没有明显改变。尽管观察到雌性大鼠（100mg/kg，第 4 周）的食物消耗显著增加和雄性大鼠（400mg/kg）的嗜酸性粒细胞百分比增加，以及雄性大鼠（250mg/kg，第 3 周和第 9 周）的食物消耗减少，但这些变化与剂量和时间无明显关系。因此，我们得出结论，急性和重复剂量（4 和 13 周）口服 LSE 没有明显的毒性作用；因此，在进行慢性毒性研究和/或临床试验之前，谨慎使用可能是安全的。
