• Submit to Molecules Login Register
• MDPI
• Journals A-Z
• For Authors
• For Editors
• For Librarians
• About
• Open Access Policy

• Abstract
• Full-Text PDF [610 KB]
• Article Versions Notes

• Article Statistics
• PubMed/Medline
• Google Scholar
• Order Reprints

• Cite this article
• Export to BibTeX
• Export to EndNote

• [+] on DOAJ
• Tubesha, Z
• Imam, MUmar
• Mahmud, R
• Ismail, M
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Tubesha, Z
• Imam, MUmar
• Mahmud, R
• Ismail, M
• [+] on PubMed
• Tubesha, Z
• Imam, MUmar
• Mahmud, R
• Ismail, M

•  CiteULike
•  Facebook
•  Mendeley
•  Twitter
• More services

Open AccessThis article is

• freely available
• re-usable

Molecules 2013, 18(7), 7460-7472; doi:10.3390/molecules18077460

Article

Study on the Potential Toxicity of a Thymoquinone-Rich Fraction Nanoemulsion in Sprague Dawley Rats

Zaki Tubesha ^1,2, Mustapha Umar Imam ¹, Rozi Mahmud ³ and Maznah Ismail ^1,2,*

¹ Nutrigenomic Programme, Laboratory of Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia ² Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ³ Department of Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 27 May 2013; in revised form: 18 June 2013 / Accepted: 19 June 2013 / Published: 26 June 2013

Download PDF Full-Text [610 KB, uploaded 5 July 2013 16:38 CEST]

Abstract: Toxicological studies constitute an essential part of the effort in developing an herbal medicine into a drug product. A newly developed thymoquinone-rich fraction nanoemulsion (TQRFNE) has been prepared using a high pressure homogenizer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential acute toxicity of this nanoemulsion in Sprague Dawley rats. The acute toxicity studies were conducted as per the OECD guidelines 425, allowing for the use of test dose limit of 20 mL TQRFNE (containing 44.5 mg TQ)/kg. TQRFNE and distilled water (DW) as a control were administered orally to both sexes of rats on Day 0 and observed for 14 days. All the animals appeared normal, and healthy throughout the study. There was no observed mortality or any signs of toxicity during the experimental period. The effects of the TQRFNE and DW groups on general behavior, body weight, food and water consumption, relative organ weight, hematology, histopathology, and clinical biochemistry were measured. All the parameters measured were unaffected as compared to the control (DW) group. The administration of 20 mL TQRFNE /kg was not toxic after an acute exposure.

Keywords: Sprague-Dawley rats; nanoemulsion; thymoquinone rich fraction; acute oral toxicity; histopathology; hematology

Article Statistics

Citations to this Article

Cite This Article