Acute and subacute oral toxicity of artemisinin-hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets in rats

Artemisinin-hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets (AH) are considered a relatively inexpensive and novel combi-nation therapy for treating all forms of malaria, especially aminoquinoline drugs-resistant strains of P.falciparum. We aim to carry out acute and subacute oral toxicity studies in rats to acquire preclinical data on the safety of AH. Acute toxicity was evaluated in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats at a single dose of 1980, 2970, 4450, 6670, and 10000 mg/kg. A 14-days subacute toxicity was assessed in SD rats at doses of 0, 146, 219, 328, and 429 mg/kg. The median lethal dose (LD50) of acute oral administration of AH in rats is found to be 3119 mg/kg, and toxic symptoms include decreased spontaneous activity, dyspnea, bristling, soft feces, spasticity, and convulsion. Repeated doses of AH have toxic effects on the nervous system, skin, blood system, liver, kidney, and spleen in rats. The main toxic reactions include epilation, emaciation, mental irritability, decreased body weight gain and food consumption, changes in the hematological and biochemical parameters, especially pathological lesions in the liver, kidney, and spleen. The no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) and lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (LOAEL) of AH are considered to be 219 mg/kg and 328 mg/kg, respectively.