Acute and subacute (28 days) toxicity of green coffee oil enriched with diterpenes cafestol and kahweol in rats

Abstract Green coffee oil enriched with cafestol and kahweol was obtained by supercritical fluid extraction using carbon dioxide while its safety and possible effects from acute and subacute treatment were evaluated in rats. For acute toxicity study, single dose of green coffee oil (2000 mg/kg) was administered by gavage in female rats. For subacute study (28 days), 32 male rats received different doses of green coffee oil extract (25, 50, and 75 mg/kg/day). In the acute toxicity study, main findings of this treatment indicated no mortality, body weight decrease, no changes in hematological and biochemical parameters, and relative weight increase in heart and thymus, without histopathological alterations in all assessed organs. All these findings suggest that LD50 is higher than aforesaid dose. In the subacute toxicity, main findings showed body weight decrease mainly at the highest dose without food consumption change, serum glucose and tryglicerides levels decrease, and relative weight increase in liver. As evidenced in histopathological pictures, no changes were observed at all treated doses. Our study suggest that green coffee oil can be explored to clinically develop new hypocholesteromic and hypoglycemic agents. However, further studies evaluating long-term effects are needed in order to have sufficient safety evidence for its use in humans.