Effect of Acute and Chronic Treatment of Common Spices in Swiss Albino Mice: A Safety Assessment Study

Spices viz., Allium cepa (AC), Allium sativum (AS), Anethum graveolens (AG), Capsicum annuum (CA) and Carum carvi (CC) were assessed for their safety. The safety evaluation study included acute toxicity (24 h), chronic toxicity (90 days), LD50 and/or Maximum Tolerance Dose (MTD) and genotoxicity determination. During chronic treatment, the body and organ weights of the mice showed no significant difference between the control and the treated group. The treatment of AC, AS, AG, CA and CC dose not induce any significant change in the frequency of micronucleated-polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) and the ratio of PCE and non-chromatic erythrocytes (NCE), indicating lack of clastogenic activity except AG and CA which shows a significant increase in the frequency of micronuclei in PCE as compared to the control group (p<0.05). These findings suggest that orally administrated aqueous suspension of above mentioned spices is relatively safe.