ACUTE ORAL TOXICITY OF MUCUNA PRURIENS IN SWISS ALBINO MICE

Abstract

Mucuna pruriens, belonging to the botanical family Fabaceae, has been used in traditional Ayurvedic Indian medicine for various ailments including Parkinson’s disease. The current study reports the outcome of acute oral toxicity investigation of ethanolic extract of M. pruriens (whole plant) on Swiss albino mice. No mortalities or evidence of adverse effects have been observed in Swiss albino mice following acute oral administration of ethanolic extract of M. pruriens at the dose of 2000 mg/ kg. This is the first report on the acute oral toxicity of M. pruriens and thus the findings of this study provide scientific validation on the use of the M. pruriens as a medicine for treating various ailments.