The anti‐tussive, anti‐inflammatory effects and sub‐chronic toxicological evaluation of perilla seed oil

Abstract BACKGROUND Perilla seed oil (PSO) is the main constituent of perilla seeds currently being used in the food industry, however it also has great clinical potential in the regulation of lung function as a nutrition supplement because of the high content of α ‐linolenic acid (ALA). In this study, the pharmacological activities including anti‐tussive, expectorant and anti‐inflammatory effect of PSO were performed. Furthermore, the 90‐day sub‐chronic oral toxicity with a 30 day recovery period was evaluated in Wistar rats. RESULTS The pharmacological studies demonstrated that PSO inhibited cough frequency induced by capsaicine in mice. PSO also inhibited the leukotriene B4 (LTB4) release from the calcium ionophore A23187‐induced polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) to some extent. In this sub‐chronic toxicity study, mortality, clinical signs, body weight, food consumption, hematology, serum biochemistry, urinalysis, organ weight, necropsy, and histopathology were used to evaluate the toxicity of PSO. Lower body weight and various negative impacts on liver related parameters without histopathological lesion were observed in the 16 g kg −1 groups. No clinically significant changes were discovered in the 4 g kg −1 group during the test period. CONCLUSION In summary, PSO exhibited anti‐tussive and anti‐inflammatory activities in vivo and in vitro . These sub‐chronic toxicity studies inferred that the ‘no‐observed adverse effect level’ (NOAEL) of PSO in Wistar rats was determined to be 4 g kg −1 . These results may provide a safety profile and a valuable reference for the use of PSO. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry