Acute and Subchronic Toxicity of Teucrium polium Total Extract in Rats

Teucrium polium l. (tp) is widely used in traditional medicine of many countries includingiran . there are various reports about pharmacological properties of tp such as calciumantagonist, anti- ulcer, ant i - diabeti c. there are a few reports about possible toxicologicaleffects of this plant. in the present study we designed to evaluate the subchronic toxicity ofteucrium polium total extract in rats.sprague dawley rats (40 males, 40 females) were divided into four dose groups(10 animals/dose/sex ) and were gavaged daily with either 100, 300 or 600 mg/kg of thetotal extract for 44 days . control group was received normal saline . body weight and foodconsumption was monitored daily. after 45 days animal was sacr ificed and hematological andbiochemical parameters, as well as weight of left kidney and liver were measured .there was no significant difference in hematological param eters in both sexes as comparedto their respecti ve controls. in bioch emical parameters, a significant increase (p<0.05) wasseen in both alt and ast enzyme activities in female rats receiving 300 mg/kg tp. therewas also a significant increase in liver weight of male rats receiving 600 mg/kg. no othersignificant changes in any other parameter were observed.present data sugge sts that female rats are more sensitive to higher doses of tp andthat liver could serve as a target organ toxicity of this extract.