Several substances derived from plant metabolism appear to have therapeutic effects, requiring toxicity and mutagenicity studies to determine their safe use capable of producing a satisfactory effect of the drug. Reports in the literature demonstrate that ethanolic extracts of P. aduncum leaves have antiprotozoal, antimalarial and insecticidal activity. The present study aimed to conduct pre-clinical toxicological tests of the ethanolic extract of P. aduncum to verify the possibility of using this extract in living beings without causing harmful effects. P. aduncum crude extract at the concentration of 100 ?g/ml, 50 ?g/ml, 10 ?g/ml and 1 ?g/ml were used to perform toxicological tests. The Artemia salina assay was performed to determine LC 50 of plant extracts for nauplii, it can be considered toxic, since at a concentration of 10 ?g/ml there was a lethality of 56.6% of the nauplii. Cellular alterations were evaluated in antiproliferative test with Allium cepa root alterations reducing the root growth as the extract concentration increases. The human erythrocyte osmotic frailty tested the interaction of the crude P. aduncum extract with the membrane of human erythrocytes, measuring free hemoglobin at increasing concentrations of NaCl from 0.12% to 0.9%.. Allelopathic potential on germination and growth of Lactuca sativa determined the potential of crude P. aduncum extract against lettuce seeds through total seed germination and the germination speed index (GSI) it was observed that root growth (in mm) was reduced with increasing extract concentration. These concentrations of crude P. aduncum extract do not have a toxic effect on cell membrane, but they did demonstrate toxic potential in cell development.

Keywords: Piper aduncum, bioassays, toxicology