Acute tocicity studies on Iphonia (Grantia) aucheri and atractyloside in mice

The desert plant Iphonia aucheri Boiss (found in the Arabian Gulf countries and Iran) has been claimed to be highly toxic to rats, camels and sheep. In the present work we have studied the acute toxic effects of oral treatment with water and methanol extracts of this plant in mice. A compound isolated from the methanol extract (termed compound A) and authentic atractyloside were also similarly tested. No mortality in mice was found twenty four hours after the administration of the water and methanol extract (2 g/Kg), compound A or the authentic atractyloside (100 and 500 mg/Kg). However, these treatments caused minor clinical or biochemical signs of toxicity, a small degree of depletion of reduced glutathione in the liver and little or no significant macroor microscopic changes in the vital organs. These results suggest that, contrary to the previous reports, the plant is of low toxicity to animals.