Croton stellatopilosus Ohba, a Thai medicinal plant (Plaunoi),
has been acknowledged for its traditional remedy in the
treatment of helminthes and topical infection [1]. A major
constituent isolated from leaves of Plau-Noi is plaunotol [2].
This natural acyclic diterpene has been used as an antigastric
ulcer medication based on its pharmacotherapeutic effects
in inducing prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and eradicating Helicobacter
pylori bacteria [3–6]. However, in addition to its
application as a single compound that requires a complicated
process of extraction and purification [7], plaunotol used in
form of a partially purified plaunotol extract (PPE) is also of
interest.This is due to the wide distribution of Plau-Noi plant
inThailand [8] and the reliability of pharmacological benefits
of natural terpenoid provides in human healthcare [9, 10].
Furthermore, the use of PPE canminimize the cost of production
and increase the access to an effective drug at a low price.
At a dose of 240mg/day or 4.8mg/kg/day, plaunotol has
been recommended to achieve antigastric ulcer effects in
humans [11]. Because equivalent pharmacological activities
could potentially come from higher amounts of PPE than
those of pure plaunotol, it is necessary to assess toxicity profiles
of such a high doses of PPE Therefore, this study aims to evaluate oral toxicity of PPE in order to generate a safety data
in animal models for extrapolation to human toxicity profiles.