Single Oral Dose Toxicity Test of Water Extracts of Radix Araliae Cordatae in ICR Mice

The object of this study was to evaluate the acute toxicity of lyophilized water extract of Radix Araliae Cordatae (RA) in male and female mice. The extract was administered to female and male ICR mice as an oral dose of 2000 mg/kg (body wt.) according to the recommendation of KFDA Guidelines. Animals were monitored for the mortality and changes in body weight, clinical signs and gross observation during 14 days after dosing, upon necropsy, organ weight and histopathology of 12 principle organs were examined. As results, we could not find any mortality, clinical signs, changes in the body weight and gross findings except for increases of hypertrophy of lymph nodes in male RA extracts-dosing group. In addition, no RA extracts-treatment related abnormal changes in the organ weight and histopathology of principle organs except for some sporadic accidental findings. The results obtained in this study suggest that the RA extracts does not cause any toxicological signs. The LD$_{50}$ and approximate LD of RA extracts in both female and male mice were considered as over 2000 mg/kg.