Sub-acute Toxicity Study of the Ethanolic Extract of Cramp Balls (Daldinia concentrica (Bolton) Ces. & De Not.) On Wistar Albino Rats

The study was to determine the level of toxicity of repeated administration of ethanol extract of a medicinal mushroom, Daldinia concentrica in animal model. Wistar albino rats of both sexes were sorted randomly into four groups of five rats each. Graded doses of 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg of the extract were administered orally, once daily for eight consecutive days to the rats in the respective groups, while control group received 10% tween 80 in distilled water only. The animals were monitored daily for behavioural activities, while effects on body weight, organ-body weight indices and haematological parameters were evaluated at the end of the treatment period. There was significant (P< 0.05) and dose dependent increase in the body weight of the test groups compared with the control. The organ-body weight indices did not differ significantly (P>0.05), while monocyte, platelet and plateletcrit values were elevated among the 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight treatments. However, the observable changes were not sufficient to establish any toxic effect arising from the sub-acute oral administration of the crude ethanol extract of D. concentrica at all test doses in this study. Rather, the effects on body weight and haematological parameters suggested that the extract contains nutritional and immune boosting properties.