Publication: The safety of Homnawakod herbal formula containing Aristolochia tagala Cham. in Wistar rats
Issued Date
2012
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eng
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Mahidol University
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BioMed Central
Bibliographic Citation
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Vol. 12, (2012), 170
Suggested Citation
Pinpat Tripatara, Winita Onlamul, Suksalin Booranasubkajorn, Jantanee Wattanarangsan, Sukit Huabprasert, Natchagorn Lumlerdkij, Pravit Akarasereenont, Tawee Laohapand The safety of Homnawakod herbal formula containing Aristolochia tagala Cham. in Wistar rats. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Vol. 12, (2012), 170. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-12-170 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/2645
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Title
The safety of Homnawakod herbal formula containing Aristolochia tagala Cham. in Wistar rats
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Abstract
Background: A dried root of Aristolochia tagala Cham. (ATC) is often used in Thai traditional medicine as an
antipyretic, anti-inflammatory agent, muscle relaxant, appetite-enhancing agent, and analeptic. Homnawakod, an
important herbal recipe, originally contains ATC in its formula, however, some Aristolochia species have been
reported to cause nephrotoxicity due to aristolochic acid (AA) and its derivatives, resulting in ATC removal from all
formulae. Therefore, this study investigates the chemical profiles of ATC, the original (HNK+ATC) and the present
Homnawakod Ayurved Siriraj Herbal Formulary™ (HNK), and investigates whether they could cause nephrotoxicity
or aggravate LPS-induced organ injuries in vivo.
Methods: HPLC and LC/MS were used for chemical profile study. Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into
groups in which the rats were intragastrically administered distilled water (2 groups), ATC (10 or 30 mg/kg), HNK
+ATC (540 or 1,620 mg/kg), or HNK (1,590 mg/kg) for 21 days. A positive control group was administered with
single dose 100 mg/kg standard AA-I intragastrically at day 1. Serum creatinine and urea were measured at baseline
and at 7, 14 and 21 days of the treatment. On day 22, a model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxemia
was used. One-way and two-way analyses of variance were performed and a P value of less than 0.05 was
considered to be significant.
Results: The similarity of the HPLC chromatograms of HNK+ATC and HNK could suggest that the qualities of both
formulae are nearly the same in terms of chemical profile. The amount of AA-I found in ATC is 0.24%w/w. All
experimental groups exhibited similar levels of serum urea at baseline and 7 and 14 days of the treatment. At
21 days, rats received AA exhibited a significant increase in serum urea, whereas the others did not exhibit such
toxicity. On day 22, there were no significant changes in LPS-induced renal and liver dysfunction, or LPS-induced
mean arterial pressure (MAP) reduction upon administration of ATC, HNK+ATC, HNK or AA-I.
Conclusions: These results suggest that ATC, HNK+ATC or HNK, at the animal dose equivalent to that used in
human, do not cause the acute nephrotoxicity in rats and do not aggravate LPS-induced organ injuries
even further.