A RESEARCH ON TOXICITY STUDIES ON COMBINATION EXTRACTS OF THREE PLANTS- TERMINALIA ARJUNA, CHRYSANTHEMUM INDICUM AND MORINGA OLEIFERA.

Natural medicine, especially from herbs, is the source for the research of various novel medicinal compounds. Drugs from herbal origin must be ensured as safe before used as medicine. Objective: The present work focused to study the toxicity effects of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Bark of Terminalia arjuna, flowers of Chrysanthemum indicum, leaves of Moringa oleifera. Methods: Sub-acute toxicity study of aqueous and ethanolic extracts were conducted on Wistar albino rats according to the protocols described in OECD guidelines 407 [OECD, 2007]. All the animals were observed twice daily for mortality and morbidity. The clinical observation included changes in mucus membrane, eyes, fur, skin, and autonomic activity such as piloerection, changes in pupil size, lacrimation and unusual breathing pattern. Results: No mortalities were recorded in rats over the period of 30 days of treatment with both the CTAE (combination of three aqueous extracts) and CTEE (combination of three ethanolic extracts) at the doses of 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg, body weight, through oral route. None of the rats after administration of CTAE and CTEE at the doses of 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight, showed any obvious morbidity or clinical symptoms of toxicity such as changes in the skin and fur, eyes, respiratory rate, autonomic (salivation, perspiration and piloerection), and stereotype activities throughout the experimental period of 30 days. Conclusion: There were no clinical signs of toxicity observed for the normal control group. As there was no mortality recorded for all the doses, the LD50 value was assumed to be greater than the limit test dose of 2000 mg/kg, body weight.Hence 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg, oral doses of both CTAE as well as CTEE were selected for further study.