Safety profile of Matricaria Chamomilla: insights from zebrafish embryo development toxicity testing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/s2175-97902025e24183Abstract
In an alternative medicinal system, Matricaria chamomilla is used for various conditions like inflammation, higher cholesterol, wounds, diabetes and pregnancy-related issues. However, there is contradiction about the use of Matricaria chamomilla at the time of pregnancy. Therefore, the present study is designed to investigate the embryotoxic and developmental effects of Matricaria chamomilla using zebrafish embryos as a model. Matricaria chamomilla's chemical profiling was done using GC-MS/MS analysis. Fertilized embryos were selected and exposed to 0.1% vehicle (alcohol) and test medicine Matricaria chamomilla (mother tincture, 6C and 30C) for 96 hrs. Normal control group embryo exposed to embryo media. All the embryos were observed for mortality, hatching, morphological parameters and heart rate till 96 hours. GC-MS/MS analysis revealed 80 phytochemical compounds in hydro-alcoholic extract of Matricaria chamomilla. It exerted a mild effect on hatching rate and showed mortality than any other group. Whereas, after the exposure of Matricaria chamomilla-6C and 30C, there were no changes observed in all the parameters. Overall, the result reveals that Matricaria chamomilla-6C and 30C (at high dilution) is found safe and indicated its safety at the time of pregnancy. However, further validation in higher animal models is recommended for proper clinical correlation.
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