TITLE:
Evaluation of Acute and Repeated Dose Toxicity of the Polyherbal Formulation Linkus Syrup in Experimental Animals
AUTHORS:
Allah Nawaz, Saira Bano, Zeeshan Ahmed Sheikh, Khan Usmanghani, Iqbal Ahmad, Syed Faisal Zaidi, Aqib Zahoor, Irshad Ahmad
KEYWORDS:
Cough Expectorant, Alanine Amino Transferase (ALT), Polyherbal, Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT), Toxicity
JOURNAL NAME:
Chinese Medicine,
Vol.5 No.4,
December
10,
2014
ABSTRACT: The objective
of the present study was to evaluate the pre-clinical efficacy and toxicity of polyherbal
cough syrup Linkus. Method: Animals (healthy Wistar albino rats; (150 - 250 g) of
either sex) were housed under standard environmental conditions; i.e. 25°C ± 1°C and 12 h dark/light cycle.
Food and water were available at libitum.
The rats were treated orally with the recommended doses of the test drug (Linkus).
After 15 minutes, they were individually placed in a closed Plexiglas chamber (20
× 10 × 10 cm) and exposed to citric acid (0.1 g/ml) inhalation for 7 minutes. The
cough reflexes were produced and counted for the last 5 minutes and compared with
those of the control animals. The following studies were conducted to evaluate the
toxicity of the test drug in healthy Wistar albino rats: lethal dose50 (LD50);
rats of either sex (n = 10/sex) were treated orally with doses (1 or 5 g/kg) of
the test drug. Mortality and behavioral changes were observed for 1 week. Repeated
dose toxicity on the healthy Wistar albino rats of both sexes (n = 5/dose/sex) was
treated orally with doses of 20 mg/kg (adult human dose = ~1400 mg), 500 mg/kg (adult
human dose = ~35,000 mg) and 1000 mg/kg (adult human dose = ~70,000 mg) of test
drug (Linkus) for 14 days. Additionally, the control animals were treated orally
with water for 14 days. Results: In female rats, the test drug (Linkus) at the dose
of 300 mg/kg caused significant (p i.e. alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alakaline
phosphatase, gamma glutamyle transferase (GGT), direct bilirubin, creatinine, and
proteins were also observed and found that the test drug at a higher dose did not
cause any of the abnormality and had shown significant p value as compared to the
control. Conclusion: The test drug (Linkus) could be an effective and safe cough
syrup because it did not show any of the side effects or toxicity on experimental
animals.