Experimental studies on toxic effects of Tiangou Jiangya capsule

OBJECTIVE: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Tiangou Jiangya capsule. METHOD: Tiangou Jiangya capsule was intragastrically administered to mice twice a day. The appearance, behavior, mental status, respiratory changes of mice and the number of poisoned and dead mice in each group were noted daily for 14 consecutive days. The amount of weight and feed of survived mice were recorded every day. The mice were divided into four groups: the treatment groups (minimum, middle, maximum dose of Tiangou Jiangya capsule) and the control group. After continuously orally administrated for 6 months, the rats' behavior, weight gain, food consumption, indications for hematology, blood biochemistry, urine analysis, electrocardiogram, systematic autopsy and histopathology were observed. The above physiological indexes were inspected again 1 month after cease of administration. RESULT: The oral acute toxicity study of Tiangou Jiangya capsule in mice revealed that the maximum dose is 534.86 g x kg(-1), which was 534.86 times the recommended human maximum dose in clinical practice. Compared with normal control group, no significant differences were observed in rats' behaviors, food-intake, electrocardiogram and relative examination indexes among the treatment groups. There was no difference of hematology, biochemistry test, urine and histopathology. CONCLUSION: The minimum dosage of Tiangou Jiangya capsule is relatively safe. It caused weight loss by administrated with the middle and maximum dose for 6 months, which should be paid attention in clinical studies.