Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea L.) flowers infusion causes very mild damage to histological structure of albino rats’ (Rattus norvegicus Berkehnout, 1769) liver and kidney

Year 2026, Volume: 30 Issue: 1, 208 - 224, 11.01.2026

Nur Ainun Oktavia Pusparini , Tia Apriliyani , Ardaning Nuriliani

https://doi.org/10.12991/jrespharm.1643494

Abstract

Butterfly pea flowers (BPF) are widely used in Indonesia as a natural food and beverage colorants. BPF is also traditionally used to relieve diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. However, few research has been conducted on the potential toxic effects of BPF infusion. Therefore, further research is necessary to evaluate its safe consumption dosage. The objective of this study was to investigate acute and subchronic toxicity of BPF infusion on histological structure of the kidney and liver in male albino rat. Acute toxicity treatment, BPF infusion was orally administered at the doses of 2500 and 5000 mg kg-1 BW for 14 days. For the subchronic toxicity treatment, BPF infusion was orally administered at the doses of 250, 500, and 1000 mg kg-1 BW. Histological preparations were performed using the paraffin method, followed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The histological structures of the livers and kidney were evaluated using an ordinal scoring method. Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test for acute treatments and the Kruskal-Wallis test for subchronic treatments (p ≤ 0.05). The results indicated very mild liver damage in the acute treatment groups, characterized by cellular degeneration. In the subchronic treatment groups, very mild damage was observed, including cellular degeneration and vacuolization. Additionally, very mild kidney damage, such as leukocyte infiltration and tubular hemorrhage, was detected in both acute and subchronic treatment groups. These findings suggest that BPF infusion is relatively safe for consumption, provided it is not consumed over an extended period.

Keywords

Infusion of butterfly pea flower , histological structure , kidney , liver , acute toxicity , subchronic toxicity

Ethical Statement

The Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada, authorized all methods related to the use and care of test animals in this study. The approval was granted under letter number: 127/ECFKH/Eks./2023

Supporting Institution

Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Thanks

This research was funded by Hibah Rekognisi Tugas Akhir (RTA Grand), Universitas Gadjah Mada 2024 (Number: 4971/UN1.P1/PT.01.01/2024).

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