Biochemical and hematological evaluation of the sub-chronic toxicity of Hylocereuspolyrhizus peel methanol extracts in wistar rats

Red dragon fruit peel is useful as an herbal medicinal material and contains higher antioxidants than the pulp. Drug safety is one of the most important factors that need to be considered in the development and use of herbal medicines. Until now, there is little information on the safety of repeated exposure to dragon fruit peel extracts, so subchronic toxicity tests need to be carried out. The test was conducted using wistar white rat test animals consisting of 6 groups, including the dosage group of 1250mg/kgWB, 2500mg/kgWB, 5000mg/kgWB, the control group, the control satellite group, and the satellite group of 5000mg/kgWB dose. Body weight was weighed then red dragon fruitpeel extract was given to rats in the dose group orally every day for 28 days. Observation of behavior and motor activity of test animals was carried out at 0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 24 hours, 7 days and 14 days. Termination was carried out on day 29 for the dose group and on day 43 for the satellite group then organ index, hematology, and blood biochemistry were measured. Observations showed that there were no deaths and behavioral abnormalities. There was a significant weight loss in female rats. Several organ indices in the dose group and satellite group showed significant values. The results of the One-Way Anova test showed that the AST profile had a significant difference (p<0.05) in male rats, while the ALT profile had no significant difference (p>0.05) in both male and female rats. ProfilhematologisepertiHgB, RBCs, basophils, monocytes, and MCV shows a significance difference (p<0.05). Hematological profiles such as HgB, RBCs, basophils, monocytes, and MCV showed significant differences (p<0.05). In conclusion, the subchronic toxicity test on Wistar white rats exposed to red dragon fruit peel extract showed overall safety.