Objective : Cicadae Periostracum (CP), which is the discarded shell of the Cryptotympana atrata (Fabricius, 1775), is a recognized component of oriental medicine for treatment sore throat, itching, shock, sedation, edema. However, the safety and toxicity of CP have not yet been established. It has been reported that symptoms of addiction or side effects may occur in patients who take high doses of CP or who are hypersensitive to it. Therefore, we investigated the acute toxicity of an CP extracts in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats.
Methods : To study acute toxicity, five SD rats of each sex per group were treated with CP extracts at single doses of 0, 500, 1000, or 2000 mg/kg administrated by oral gavage, and body weight, clinical signs, and mortality were observed after dosing. At the end of 14-day observation period, all animals were sacrificed and complete hematological and macroscopic examinations were performed.
Results : There were no dead animal and test article-related effects on body weight change or the gross finding. No toxicologically significant results were observed between control and treated groups in hematology. Although salivation related to stress at the highest dose was observed in clinical signs immediately after administration, it is considered to have no toxicological significance.
Conclusion : As the results, we did not find any adverse effect at the dose levels of 500, 1000, or 2000 mg/kg in rats. The minimal lethal dose was considered to be over 2000 mg/kg body weight in rats.