Toxicity Study of Orthosiphon grandifolus

Abstract

Dried leaves of Orthosiphon grandifolus have been used as a remedy of kidney stones. Dried leaves and stems of the plant were percolated with hot water. The extract was lyophilized and yielded 24.0% of dried powder. The median lethal doses (LD₅₀) in g/kg of the extract in animals after single intraperitoneal injection were: male rats = 0.93, female rats = 0.81, male mice = 0.70, female mice = 0.84; but no lethal effect was found after single feeding of up to 5 g/kg body weight in both rats and mice. When female and male rats were fed daily with O. grandifolus at the doses of 0.5, 1 and 2 g/kg body weight for 30 days, there was no change in weight, blood chemistry (SGOT, SGPT, BUN) or the histopathology of major visceral organs, i.e., kidney, liver, heart, lung and spleen in comparison with the control group. The results from this study demonstrated that O. grandifolus has low toxicity when given orally in the animal.