In vivo safety assessment of rhodomyrtone, a potent compound, from Rhodomyrtus tomentosa leaf extract

Background: Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Aiton) Hassk. has been traditionally used to relieve various diseases. Rhodomyrtone, a bioactive acylphloroglucinol compound isolated from the leaves of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, has been scientifically evidenced as a potential antibacterial agent. This study aimed to assess safety of rhodomyrtone in both invertebrate and vertebrate models.

Material and methods: Safety of rhodomyrtone was determined in an invertebrate model, Galleria mellonella as well as vertebrate models including zebrafish (Danio rerio) and murine. In addition, toxicity to human erythrocytes was also measured.

Results: Treatment of Galleria mellonella with rhodomyrtone at 100 mg/kg body weight up to four days showed no visible toxic effects (100 % survival). In zebrafish embryo model, at least 80 % survival of embryos was demonstrated when treated with rhodomyrtone at 0.5 μg/mL for three days. Prior to clinical trial, it is a prerequisite that rhodomyrtone has to be evaluated for its biocompatibility with human blood components. The results displayed that rhodomyrtone at 256 μg/mL did not cause any observable human erythrocyte haemolysis. Furthermore, preclinical assessment of rhodomyrtone formulation justified potential applications of rhodomyrtone in humans. Oral toxicity testing in a mouse model indicated the absence of systemic toxicity when the animals received up to 5000 mg/kg body weight of rhodomyrtone formulation for a period of fourteen days.

Conclusions: As the minimal inhibitory concentration of rhodomyrtone against most Gram-positive pathogens is 0.5-1 μg/mL, the results suggest that it should produce no toxic effects at concentrations used in human, thus support further development in pharmaceutical industries and public health applications.

Keywords: DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; Invertebrate; PBS, phosphate buffered saline; RBCs, red blood cells; Rhodomyrtone; Rhodomyrtus tomentosa; Toxicity; Vertebrate.