Acute toxicity study of Phyllanthus niruri and its effect on the cyto-architectural structure of nephrocytes in Swiss albino mice Mus-musculus

Background: In the era of herbal renaissance, world is moving towards the medicinal plant that repairs and strengthening the body system without any toxic side effects. Popular medicinal plant Phyllanthus niruri contains various bioactive molecules, the present study aimed to observe the biochemical and cyto-architectural alterations in kidney associated with acute oral toxicity (LD₅₀) of aqueous extract of P.niruri in Swiss albino mice. However, limited data is available about the toxicity of herbal remedies used for medication, which is a critical constrain. Materials and Methods: For the acute oral toxicity study, the animals were divided into six groups of 6 mice each. Group–I was named control group and the treatment groups were administered aqueous leaf extract of P.niruri orally at different doses of 500 mg/Kg bw (Group-II), 1000 mg/Kg bw (Group-III), 2000 mg/Kg bw (Group-IV), 2500 mg/Kg bw (Group-V) and 3000 mg/Kg bw (Group-VI) for 15 consecutive days. The mice were sacrificed on and serum was collected for the biochemical analysis. The kidney was dissected and processed for histological analysis. Results: The LD₅₀ dose of P.niruri was found to be 2590.984 mg/Kg bw in Swiss albino mice model in laboratory condition. The result showed the elevated serum level of urea in treated group of mice at higher doses which was found to be statistically significant as compared to the control (Group–I). There were no any significant increase in serum creatinine has been observed. Histological alteration were observed at higher dose more than 2500 mg/Kg bw (Group-VI). Conclusion: It is evident from our study that P. niruri may have toxic effect at high doses. Therefore, it should be ingested with precautions.