An acute toxicity test of compound traditional Chinese medicine "Huhezi" and its efficacy in chickens experimentally infected with Salmonella pullorum

Objective To investigate the toxicity of compound traditional Chinese medicine "Huhezi" and observe its efficacy in chickens experimentally infected with Salmonella pullorum.

Methods According to the veterinary drug research technical guidelines, the acute toxicity test was carried out in mice by gavage with "Huhezi"extracts. To evaluate the efficacy of "Huhezi" granules, the chickens experimentally infected with Salmonella pullorum were treated at a dosage of 4.20, 1.62, 0.48 g/d respectively by drinking water for 7 successive days.

Result and conclusion The dose of acute toxicity test of "Huhezi"extracts was over 5 000 mg/kg. No death was observed in mice, revealing LD₅₀ > 5 000 mg/kg. The maximum tolerated dose was 40 g/kg. The cure rates of different dose granules groups were 75.0%, 72.7%, 62.5% and the effective rates were 83.3%, 81.8%, 75.0% respectively, while the mortality rate of infected control group was 40%. The result of χ² test showed that the mortality rate of high and medium dose group of "Huhezi" granule was significanty different from that of the infected control group. The results indicate that compound traditional Chinese medicine extracts are non-toxic, and the high and medium dose of "Huhezi" granules have certain protection to infected death of S. pullorum, with cure rates and effective rates of high dose group being higher than that of medium and low dose groups, the mortality rates of high and medium dose groups being lower than that of the infected control groups.