Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Oriental Pharmacy and Experimental Medicine https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-019-00384-y RESEARCH ARTICLE Toxicological evaluation, brine shrimp lethality assay, in vivo and ex vivo antioxidant assessment followed by GC–MS study of the extracts obtained from Olax psittacorum (Lam.) Vahl Raja Majumder 1  · Lopamudra Adhikari 1  · Chowdhury Mobaswar Hossain 2  · Moonmun Dhara 1  · Jinamitra Sahu 3 Received: 15 March 2019 / Accepted: 18 June 2019 © Institute of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University 2019 Abstract Olax psittacorum (Lam.) Vahl. has versatile ethnopharmacological healing property in addition with incomplete research are adequate pieces of information to support the choice of the plant to build up proper data in acute and sub-chronic toxicologi- cal, cytotoxicity with ex vivo and in vivo antioxidant profle as well as qualitative analytical illustration through GC–MS of the selected extracts obtained from diferent parts of the plant. We have extracted leaf methanolic extract (LME), stem methanolic extract (SME), stem aqueous extract (SAE) and fruits aqueous extract (FrAE) for the above mentioned respective studies. OECD guideline 420 and 407, brine shrimp lethality (BSLA), lipid peroxidation, catalase assay was conducted to gather information on toxicity, cytotoxicity, and antioxidant properties respectively. BSLA study indicates that LME may be a good choice to develop as an anticancer drug for future perspective (LC 50 = 41.88 µg/ml). Both LME and SME have been selected for ex vivo and in vivo antioxidant analysis on the basis of their low toxicity and GCMS analysis. Moreover, in vivo lipidperoxidation as well as catalase assay both having signifcant diference (P < 0.05) between the groups except LME 200 and positive control (P = 0.084) as well as LME 200 and SME 100 (P = 0.054) respectively. This study justifes that high dose exposure of FrAE, SAE, and SME could be so toxic due to changes in biochemical parameters and in comparison, LME is safer according to the signifcant (P < 0.05) outcome statistically. LME and SME are safe to consume at a dose of ≤ 200 mg/kg/bw as herbal supplements with antioxidant property. Keywords Acute and repeated oral dose toxicity study · Pathological investigation · BSLA (brine shrimp lethality assay) · In vivo and ex vivo antioxidant · GCMS evaluation Abbreviations LME Leaf methanolic extract SME Stem methanolic extract FrAE Fruit aqueous extract SAE Stem aqueous extract TG Test guidelines OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development GC-MS Gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy mg Milligram kg Kilogram bw Body weight BSLA Brine shrimp lethality assay p.o. Per os (orally) ANOVA Analysis of variance LD 50 Lethal dose LC 50 Lethal concentration ALP Alkaline phosphatase * Raja Majumder rajamajumdert@gmail.com Lopamudra Adhikari lopamudraadhikari@soauniversity.ac.in Chowdhury Mobaswar Hossain masoomchowdhury@gmail.com Moonmun Dhara moonmundhara@gmail.com Jinamitra Sahu jinasahu2050@gmail.com 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Kalinga Nagar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751003, India 2 Principal of Bengal School of Technology (A College of Pharmacy), Sugandha, Hooghly, West-Bengal 712102, India 3 PG Department of Pathology, IMS and SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Kalinga Nagar, Shampur, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751003, India