Journal of Medical and Bioengineering Vol. 3, No. 2, June 2014 98 ©2014 Engineering and Technology Publishing doi: 10.12720/jomb.3.2.98-101 Effect of Subacute Dose of Mitragyna Speciosa Korth Crude Extract in Female Sprague Dawley Rats Rani Sakaran 1c , Faizah Othman 1a , Ibrahim Jantan 2b , Zar Chi Thent 1d , and Srijit Das 1e 1 Department of Anatomy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia E-mail: {faizah a , ibj b }@medic.ukm.my; {rani2217 c , zarrchii d , drsrijit e }@gmail.com Abstract—Mitragyna speciosa Korth (MS) leaves are widely used as a traditional remedy. The main aim of the present study was to observe the subacute toxicity of MS crude extract on the liver, kidney and uterus in female Sprague Dawley rats. Thirty two rats (150-200g) were randomly divided into four groups: control acute (CA); control subacute (CS); experimental acute (EA) and experimental subacute (ES). CA and CS groups were only given 15% Tween-80. Group EA rats were administered single oral dose of 1000mg/kg MS extract for 14 days. Group ES rats were administered repeated dose of 500 mg/kg MS methanol for 28 days. Liver of ES group showed severe sinusoidal congestion with enlarged hepatocytes and numerous vacuolation compared to EA group. The lining of epithelial cells of uterine tissue in ES group showed more vacuolated cells with increasing in height. No changes were observed in kidney with both doses. Index Terms— Mitragyna speciosa, subacute, toxicity, liver, kidney, uterus I. INTRODUCTION Herbal medicines are widely used as an alternative treatment in developing countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. It is widely used as self- medication as consumption of herbs is believed to be safe with little or no side effects. [1] Mitragyna speciosa (MS) Korth is one of the psychostimulant plant, belongs to the family Rubiaceae. It is locally known as ‘ketum’ or ‘biak-biak’ in Malaysia and ‘kratom’ in Thailand. [2] Mature leaves of MS consist of abundant biologically active alkaloids. Mitragynine is the major constituent which is 66.2% based on the crude base and followed by its analogues paynantheine (8.6%), speciogynine (6.6%) and speciociliatine (0.8%). [3] Mitragynine has opioid like properties which can develop to addiction. [4] MS leaves has been tradiationally used as an alternative treatment by local people for the treatment of fever, cough, malaria, hypertension, diarrhea, to prolong sexual intercourse and as a substitute for the treatment of opiate addiction like morphine. [5], [6] Previous studies reported that MS crude extract or mitragynine possessed Manuscript received July 22, 2013; revised September 9, 2013 anti-depressant [7], anti-inflammatory [8] and antinociceptive properties [9] in experimental animals. However, there were few side effects following consumption of MS such as dry mouth, weight loss, diuresis, constipation, jerky movement of limbs and aching of muscles and bones. [5] Nowadays, the abuse of MS leaves has gained a lot of attention in developing countries. Recently, several case studies showed toxicity effects in human following the consumption of MS leaves. It is either due to acute overdose or long term consumption of MS extract. [10]- [13] Several studies have been conducted based on the effect of MS extract with an acute dose. However, it is important to ascertain the information regarding the toxicity of MS crude extract with the minimal dose while on prolong consumption. The toxicity study of MS crude extract with regard to subacute dose is not well documented, to date. Majority of the studies have been performed on the mitragynine compound and its toxicological as well as therapeutical effects. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the subacute dose of MS crude extract since the majority of population prefer to consume fresh MS leaves instead of the isolated compound. Thus, the present study was designed to investigate subacute toxicity of MS crude extract in female Sprague Dawley rats by observing its physiological behaviour, biochemical and histological changes. Since the toxicity is related to major organs such as liver and kidney, we observed the changes in these major excretory organs. We studied the histological changes occuring in liver and kidney of experimental animals following the subacute dose of MS. In addition, we also observed the microstructural changes in the uterus tissue of the animals. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS A. Plant Material The fresh green leaves of MS were collected from Gunung Kriyang, Alor Setar, Kedah. Authentication of the plant was carried out at the Herbarium, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Malaysia with the specimen voucher number UKMB 30028.