Dichrostachys cinerea is a plant used in traditional Mozambican medicine to treat diarrhea, toothache, ear pain and abdominal pain, however its therapeutic and toxic potentials have not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, this study aimed to carry out preliminary qualitative phytochemistry and to evaluate antimicrobial and toxicological activity of the aqueous, methanolic and ethanolic extracts of the leaves and roots of Dichrostachys cinerea. Antimicrobial activity was assessed using the Muller Hinton Agar diffusion method, while the acute toxicity study was performed on rats (Mus musculus) using the protocol approved by the Eduardo Mondlane University Bioethics Committee, described according to the guidelines of the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) for Chemical Testing. The methanolic extract of the leaves showed activity on Staphylococcus aureus with MIC = 125 mg / mL while the ethanolic extract of the roots showed activity for Staphylococcus aureus with MIC = 306 µg/ mL and Streptococcus sp, with MIC of 977 µg/mL. All extracts showed less activity than the drug ciprofloxacin used as a positive control. When assessing toxicity, the methanolic extract showed the highest mortality in rats, both acute and sub chronic toxicity. Although signs of systemic toxicity were observed in all groups, these were accentuated in animals that received the methanol extract. The conclusion of the study is that, the extracts of D. cinerea evaluated in this study show toxicity to Mus musculus, although most of them are very common even with commercially available medicines. Further evaluation studies are needed to better assess the risk of toxicity and its therapeutic benefit.
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