Sub-acute Toxicity Studies of a Metabolite of Streptomyces Species

The ethyl acetate extract of yeast extract-glucose broth medium of an Actinomycetes strain, Streptomyces yielded a reddish yellow metabolite by chromatographic technique and was identified as 2-N-butanamide-3-methyl-4-methoxy-5-ss-L-arabinosyl-propanophenone (MZ-4) on the basis of spectral data. The sub-acute toxicity study of this metabolite was carried out on long Evan/'s rats. The change of haematological and biochemical parameters were statistically insignificant. No abnormalities were found in the histopathology of the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs and spleen in the experimental group of rats at a dose of 300 mu g rat super(-1) day super(-1) for 14 consecutive days, when compared with the control group.