The use of medicinal plants has been being very significant in the last years, being the use encouraged by WHO. Synadenium umbellatum Pax, Euphorbiacea (popularly known as cola-note, cancerola, miraculous) has the latex used empirically as anti-cancerous and anti-inflammatory. For there being toxic species in this family and aiming at the safety in the use of vegetable extracts, such study evaluated the pre-clinical toxicity of the latex and of the ethanolic extract of the leaves (EEL) of S. umbellatum, administrated by oral route, in Wistar female rats. The study followed OECD's Guidelines for test of acute toxicity (Guideline 423) and for subacute toxicity (Guideline 407). In the acute toxicity of latex and EEL, behavioral and physiological alterations were not observed neither animal's death in the dose level of 2,000 mg/kg. However, the latex caused congestion and leukocytes infiltration of the kidneys, liver and lungs, effects not observed with EEL. In the subacute toxicity, dose levels of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg of EEL did not produced significant dose-dependent alterations in the lab results and no physiologic, macroscopic and hystopathological alterations. EEL of S. umbellatum is practically poisonless in acute exposure; already the latex can cause hystological damages. The chronic use of S. umbellatum needs more specific studies.
Synadenium umbellatum; acute toxicity; subacute toxicity; pre-clinical toxicity
