A developmental toxicity-screening test of valerian.

Valerian (Valeriana Officinallis) is a perennial plant used as a mild sedative for anxiety and for insomnia. It is also used in the treatment of gastrointestinal cramps and as a diuretic. It is traditionally contraindicated in pregnancy; however, there are no studies to warrant this warning. This study was performed to provide some information to fill this knowledge gap. Female rats were orally dosed with a valerian extract in 45% ethanol (supplied by MediHerb) daily on either gestation days (GD) 1-8 or 8-15. On GD 20, rats were sacrificed and fetuses, placentae and ovaries collected. The fetuses were weighed and examined for external malformations. No signs of maternal toxicity were evident. Results indicated that valerian had no adverse effects on fertility or fetal development. Valerian induced toxicity when GD 10.5 embryos were cultured for 26h in rat serum to which 6 microl/ml of the extract was added. The results of the present preliminary study showed that consumption of up to 65 times the human dose of the valerian extract supplied by Mediherb did not have an adverse reproductive outcome in rats. This may be a result of low pH of the extract removing the potentially cytotoxic epoxide moieties. However, consumption of other preparations of valerian, particularly if they contained considerable levels of valepotriates could have a very different outcome.