Toxicology of Lapachol in rats: embryolethality.

Abstract

Lapachol is a naphtoquinone with therapeutic potential against enterovirus, Chagas disease and is also used as an antimalarial and antiinflamatory agent. In order to study teratogenic potential of Lapachol, pregnant Wistar rats were treated with 0.5 ml of distilled water (control group); 0.5 ml of hydroalcoholic solution (vehicle group) and 10 mg of Lapachol in 0.5 ml of hydroalcoholic solution (treated group) by oral gavage from the 8th to the 12th day of pregnancy. The following variables were observed: maternal body weight on days 1, 6, l5 and 21 and food intake on days 2, 6, 15 and 21 of pregnancy. The number of live and dead fetuses and the sites of resorptions were counted. The ovaries were weighed and the corpora lutea were counted. Data were analyzed by ANOVA-one way, Dunnett test and the chi square test. Significance level test alpha = 0.05. Results have shown that mothers were unaffected but there were a 99.2% of fetus mortality, indicative of a strong abortifacient effect of Lapachol in rats.

• Authors: M de O Guerra, A S Mazoni, M A Brandão, V M Peters
• Journal: Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia (Braz J Biol) Vol. 61 Issue 1 Pg. 171-4 (Feb 2001) ISSN: 1519-6984 [Print] Brazil
• PMID: 11340475 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Anti-Infective Agents
• Naphthoquinones
• lapachol

Topics

• Animals
• Anti-Infective Agents (toxicity)
• Body Weight (drug effects)
• Chi-Square Distribution
• Corpus Luteum (drug effects)
• Female
• Fetal Death (chemically induced)
• Naphthoquinones (toxicity)
• Organ Size (drug effects)
• Pregnancy
• Rats
• Rats, Wistar
• Toxicity Tests