Toxicity of apolar and polar Lantana camara L. crude extracts in mice A.H.V. Bevilacqua a , I.B. Suffredini b , P. Romoff a , J.H.G. Lago c , M.M. Bernardi a,b, * a Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde/Centro de Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, Rua da Consolação, 930, São Paulo, SP 01302-907, Brazil b Laboratorio de Extração da Universidade Paulista, Av. Paulista, 900, 1 andar, São Paulo, SP 01310-100, Brazil c Departamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema, SP 09972-270, Brazil article info Article history: Received 5 September 2006 Accepted 5 May 2010 Keywords: Lantana camara L. Toxicity Mice Behavior Open field abstract Lantana camara L, widely used in folk medicine, presents toxicity for farm animals. The acute poisoning effects of the apolar and polar L. camara L. extracts in mice were done. The percentage of death during 7 days after treatment, the acute signs of toxicity as well as the general activity observed in open field were assessed. The extracts were administered by i.p. route at 1.5, 3.0 and 5.0 g/kg. Animals were eval- uated during the first 2 h after the treatments to assess the acute signs of toxicity and daily observations were done for the presence of death. In the end of the experiment, at day 7, or immediately after death the animals had their organs removed, weighted and observed for macroscopic alterations. 1 H NMR and TLC analysis suggest the presence of triterpenoids in the apolar phase but not in the polar phase. Results showed also that both extracts produced similar percentage of death, mainly after 2 days of treatment; only the apolar extract presented a dose-dependent increased lethality. At necropsy, mice treated by both apolar and polar extracts were severely icteric, dehydrated and constipated, with hepatosis, showed con- gested heart and lung, and nephrosis; no skin lesions were shown. The main signs of toxicity revealed a decreased spontaneous general activity. In addition, it was observed a decreased duration of locomotion and animal rearing parallel to an increased immobility in the open field. The similarity of the signs related to the acute toxicity for both apolar and polar extracts suggested that the extracts have some of the active toxic principles in common. Data from open field behavior and spontaneous signs of toxicity suggest that the toxic principles have depressive properties on central nervous system. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. Lantana camara The gender Lantana L. is composed by 150 pantropical species, used as traditional medicines or as ornamental worldwide. Lantana camara (Verbenaceae) is commonly known as camara, camara chumbinho (Tokarnia et al., 1984), camara-de-cheiro, camara-de- espinho, camara-miudo-de-espinho, camara verdadeiro, camara vermelho, cambara, cambara-de-duas-cores, cambara-de-folha- grande, chumbinho or chumbinho roxo (Corrêa, 1984; Braga, 1976), and is popularly used as sudorific, carminative, antiseptic, antispasmodic and antiemetic. Some parts of the plant are used in the treatment of iches, cuts, ulcers, respiratory tract secretions, eczema, malaria, rheumatism, tooth ache, uterine bleed, colds and flus, asthma, hypertension, tumors and cancer (Ghisalberti, 2000; Deena and Thoppil, 2000) and as insecticide (Seyoum et al., 2002; Dua et al., 1996). Previous reports showed that the plant produces triterpenes from the lantadene type such as lantadenes A and B, lantanolic acid, lantic acid, 22-beta-dimethylacryloyloxylantanolic acid, a mixture of 22-beta-dimethylacryloyloxylantanolic acid and 22-beta-angeloyloxylantanolic acid and lantanolic acid (Barre et al., 1997). The presence of flavonoids, iridoide glycosides, oligosac- charides, phenylpropanoid glycosides and baphtoquinones has been reported (Sharma et al., 2007). The antitumoral activity is re- lated to verbascoside, a protein kinase C inhibitor (Herbert et al., 1991; Inada et al., 1995). The essential oil, whose main constitu- ents are b-caryophyllen, geranyl acetate, terpenyl acetate, bornyl acetate and D-limonen showed antifungal and antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium solani and Candida albicans (Deena and Thoppil, 2000; Hernandez et al., 2003). Some varieties of L. camara are toxic for causing photosensitiza- tion in ruminants, which kills the animal (Tokarnia et al., 1999). Ubiquitously, intoxication only occurs when enough plant material is ingested, particularly when starving animals are conduced to pastures where the plant grows freely, which is frequently in 0034-5288/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.rvsc.2010.05.001 * Corresponding author at: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde/Centro de Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, Rua da Consolação, 930, São Paulo, SP 01302-907, Brazil. Tel.: +55 11 3091 1376; fax: +55 11 3091 7829. E-mail address: marthabernardi@gmail.com (M.M. Bernardi). Research in Veterinary Science 90 (2011) 106–115 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Research in Veterinary Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rvsc