Tchogou Atchadé Pascal¹, Semado Franck Médard¹, Agbogba Félicienne¹, Abissi Yollande¹, Kassa Roxane¹, Lokonon Jacques Ezéchiel¹, Medoatinsa Espérance¹, Houngbeme Alban², Anago Eugénie³, Baba-Moussa Lamine⁴, Gbenou Joachim Djimon⁵, Senou Maximin^1,

Introduction: Moringa oleifera was a medicinal plant generally used by populations in the food as well as therapeutic field. Its use to treat anemia was observed in the Djougou area in northern Benin in traditional medicine. Although this plant underwent a lot of scientific study, there was still to our knowledge, a lack of scientific data on its effectiveness in the treatment of hemolytic type anemia. The aim of our study was to test its safety in vivo on Wistar rats. Methods: Wistar rats received by gavage a single dose of 2000 mg/kg of aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera leaves for the acute oral toxicity test (TOA). For the subchronic oral toxicity test (TSC), the Wistar rats received the aqueous extract by gavage at a daily dose of 200 mg/Kg of body weight per day for 28 days. The rats were weighed and blood samples were taken on day 0, then on day 14 for TOA and on day 28 for TSC, respectively. The renal assessment was carried out by the dosage of creatinine, the liver assessment by the transaminases AST and ALT and the immune assessment by the hemogram. The liver, kidneys and spleen were removed for histological analysis. The results were analyzed using the Mann Whitney test, the significance level being set at 5%. Results: The weight of the rats did not change significantly in the various acute or subchronic oral toxicity tests, suggesting the absence of physical disturbance in the rats. Serum creatinine did not change significantly, indicating preservation of renal function. It was the same for AST and ALT transaminases, indicating an absence of hepatic cytolysis. Hepatic, renal and splenic parenchyma showed no atypia. Conclusion: The aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera leaves did not reveal any toxic effect in the acute or subchronic state and offered prospects for its use in the treatment of anemia.

Moringa oleifera, oral toxicity, subchronic liver, kidney and spleen toxicity