AKRAM M. ELDIDAMONY, GIHAN G. MOUSTAFA, HALA M. I. MEAD, SAMAH N. ELSHAFIEY AND ABDELHAFEZ
Department of Pest Physiology, Plant Protection Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt
*(e-mail : mogedamohammed@yahoo.com; Mobile : +20 01128992127)
(Received : July 5, 2019; Accepted : September 11, 2019)
ABSTRACT
This work was designed to evaluate the rodenticidal effect of acetone and methanol extracts of Heliotropium curassavicum in male albino rats under laboratory conditions. The chemical composition of methanolic extract using LC/MS and acetonic extract using GC/MS showed the presence of 16 and 22 chemical compounds, respectively. The acute oral toxicity study was conducted using the Karber arithmetic method for the calculation of the median lethal dose (LD50). Then, the toxic effects of the acetonic, methanolic and a mixture of both extracts were evaluated at a daily single oral dose (1/20 of the LD50) after 28 days. The LD50 of the acetonic and methanolic extracts of the plant were found to be 12.500 and 16.500 g/kg, respectively, after 72 h of treatment. Results revealed that all the tested extracts and zinc phosphide recorded a significant increase in total lipids, total soluble protein and acid phosphates comparing to control groups. Also, there were histopathological changes appeared in the spleen of rats treated with zinc phosphide and a mixture of acetone and methanol extracts, while the rest extracts and control groups showed normal structures. The assessment of the chemical constituents in acetone and methanol extracts of H. curassavicum may be responsible for the rodenticidal effect observed in the present study. In conclusion, the extracts of H. curassavicum under investigation could be involved in Integrated Pest Management Programmes (IPM) as rodenticides.
Key words : Heliotropium curassavicum, methanolic and acetonic extracts, zinc phosphide, biochemical parameters, spleen histopathology