Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dow College of Pharmacy, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi-74200, Pakistan.
Hamdard Al-Majeed College of Eastern Medicine Hamdard University, Karachi-74600, Pakistan.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2021 Nov 15;280:114409. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2021.114409. Epub 2021 Jul 13.
The edible plant Opuntia dillenii (Ker Gawl.) Haw. commonly known as Nagphana, belongs to the Cactaceae family. It is traditionally used to treat various ailments including inflammation, gastric ulcers, diabetes, hepatitis, asthma, whooping cough and intestinal spasm.
Despite its traditional use in various countries, detailed toxicological studies of O. dillenii cladode are few. Thus in the current study, toxicity of O. dillenii cladode derived methanol extract, fractions and its α-pyrones: opuntiol and opuntioside have been addressed.
The test agents were assessed using both in vitro and in vivo toxicity assays. MTT on human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK-293), tryphan blue exclusion in rat neutrophils, Cytokinesis-B block micronucleus (CBMN) in human lymphocytes and genomic DNA fragmentation using agarose gel electrophoresis were performed. In acute toxicity test, mice orally received extract (5 g/kg) for 7 days followed by measurements of relative organ weight, biochemical (blood profile, liver and kidney function test) and histological studies (liver and kidney) were carried out. Rat bone marrow micronucleus genotoxicity assay was also conducted.
O. dillenii derived test agents were non-cytotoxic and had no effect on the integrity of DNA. Methanol extract (5 g/kg) orally administered in mice did not cause any significant change in relative organ weights, biochemical parameters and liver and kidney histology as compared to vehicle control. In parallel, extract did not stimulate micronuclei formation in rat bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes.
These results led to conclude that edible O. dillenii extract is non-toxic via the oral route and appears to be non-cyto-, hepato-, nephro- or genotoxic, thereby supporting its safe traditional use against various ailments. Therefore, opuntiol and opuntioside may serve as lead compounds in designing new drug(s) derived from edible plants.
可食用植物 Opuntia dillenii（Ker Gawl.） Haw. 通常被称为 Nagphana，属于仙人掌科。它传统上用于治疗各种疾病，包括炎症、胃溃疡、糖尿病、肝炎、哮喘、百日咳和肠痉挛。
尽管它在许多国家都有传统用途，但对 O. dillenii 肉质茎的详细毒理学研究很少。因此，在目前的研究中，研究了 O. dillenii 肉质茎衍生的甲醇提取物、馏分及其 α-吡喃酮：仙人掌醇和仙人掌苷的毒性。
使用体外和体内毒性测定法评估测试剂。对人胚肾细胞系 (HEK-293) 进行 MTT，对大鼠嗜中性粒细胞进行台盼蓝排除，对人淋巴细胞进行胞质分裂阻滞微核 (CBMN)，并使用琼脂糖凝胶电泳进行基因组 DNA 片段化。在急性毒性试验中，小鼠口服给予提取物（5 g/kg）7 天，然后测量相对器官重量、生化（血液参数、肝功能和肾功能试验）和组织学研究（肝和肾）。还进行了大鼠骨髓微核遗传毒性试验。
O. dillenii 衍生的测试剂无细胞毒性，且对 DNA 的完整性没有影响。与载体对照相比，口服给予小鼠的 5 g/kg 甲醇提取物不会引起相对器官重量、生化参数和肝肾功能组织学的任何显著变化。同时，提取物不会刺激大鼠骨髓多染红细胞中的微核形成。
这些结果表明，可食用的 O. dillenii 提取物通过口服途径是非毒性的，并且似乎没有细胞毒性、肝毒性、肾毒性或遗传毒性，从而支持其对各种疾病的安全传统用途。因此，仙人掌醇和仙人掌苷可能是从食用植物中设计新药的先导化合物。
