Acute Toxicity of Chloroform Extract of Artemisia macivera Linn in Swiss Albino Mice

The acute toxicity of chloroform extract of Artemisia maciverae Linn was studied in Swiss albino mice. The mice were randomly distributed into four groups of three animals each. The groups were respectively administered both intraperitoneally and orally chloroform extract of Artemisia maciverae at 0, 10, 100 and 1000mg/kg in a single dose and monitored frequently for 24h and daily for 13 days in the first phase of the experiment. In the second phase of the experiment, the animals were administered single doses of the extract at 0, 200, 400 and 800mg/kg both intraperitoneally and orally and monitored frequently for 24h and 13 days respectively. The number of deaths in a group was recorded. The results of the second phase experiment were used to calculate the LD50 of the plant extract. All surviving animals were sacrificed after 14 days. Selected organs of the animals i.e. heart, lungs, liver, kidney, spleen, stomach and intestine of both the dead and sacrificed animals were removed and stored in 10% formal saline ready for histopathological analysis. Tissue specimens of the organs were examined histopathologically after processing and staining with haematoxylin and eosin. Lesions were observed in the liver, kidney and intestine of mice administered 800 and 1000mg/kg of chloroform extract of Artemisia maciverae. From this result, the LD50 of the chloroform extract of Artemisia maciverae was calculated to be 566 mg/kg. The results indicate that the extract may be toxic at a high dose and short term exposure.