Skin and liver toxicity in experimental Lantana camara poisoning in albino rats.

Dried alcoholic extract of fresh Lantana camara leaves (LE), on oral administration to albino rats of both sexes, induced photodermatitis during exposure to clear sunlight for 1 hr. Its severity was related to the dose of LE and was maximal in rats exposed to sunlight from 4 to 14 hr after feeding LE and gradually declined over 40 hr. Wavelengths of light about 540 to 570 mu only were effective. In control study, the alcoholic extract of edible spinach leaves was only 1/3 in potency and its effect lasted for less than 20 hr. LE did not raise serum bilirubin, SGOT, SGPT or cause liver injury as assessed by light microscopy. However, like CCL4 but unlike spinach extract, LE impaired excretion of BSP by liver, proportionate to the dose and also maximal at 5.5 hr declining thereafter over 40 hr.

Anti-hyperglycaemic effect of an extract of Myrtus communis in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in mice.

Intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (150 mg/kg) in mice produced an initial transient hyperglycaemia at 2 h followed by a second hyperglycaemic phase after 48-72 h which persisted throughout the 7-day observation period. An ethanol-water extract of Myrtus communis (2 g/kg) administered intragastrically 30 min before streptozotocin abolished the initial hyperglycaemic without affecting the second phase. Myrtus extract given prior to streptozotocin and repeated at 24 h and 30 h, did not allow hyperglycaemia to develop until after 48 h. Administration of Myrtus extract 48 h after streptozotocin significantly reduced the hyperglycaemia and this effect was maintained by its repeated administration. Myrtus extract had no effect on the blood glucose level of normal mice. These studies confirm the "folk-medicine" indication of Myrtus extract as potentially useful in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.