Red cell haemolysis test as an in vitro approach for the assessment of toxicity of karanja oil

The karanja tree grows in parts of India and Australia. The oil from seed k ernels was found to be toxic to animals, The annual potential availability of the oil is around 135,000 tons in India. In order to use it for benefici al purposes, it is necessary to detoxify the oil. In the present study, the oil was assessed for toxicity by the red cell haemolysis test and estimati ng the LDH in the supernatant. The non-lipid constituents were isolated fro m raw oil by aqueous methanol extraction. The raw oil and the non-lipid fra ction were found to haemolyse the red cells with release of LDH, whereas th e extracted oil did not show such a manifestation. There was a good correla tion between haemolytic activity and LDH released from cells. These finding s were further confirmed with in vivo studies where the raw and extracted k aranja oils showed 100% and nil mortality in rats dosed orally at 10 and 20 ml/kg body weight, respectively. This haemolysis test can be used as an in vitro method to predict toxicity and to monitor the detoxification of the oils prior to use in in rho studies for toxicological evaluation. The fatty acid composition of the raw and extracted karanja oils showed no differenc e. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.