2.1Test animal
Wistar albino rats of both sex (Male and female) weighing about130–250
g were used in the chronic toxicology studies. The rats were housed in
the Department of Pharmacology, Siddha central research institute,
Chennai. The rats were kept in sanitized polypropylene cages housed with
sterile corn cob as bedding materials at animal house, in an air
conditioned environment with four rats in each cage and maintained at
room temperature of (23 ± 2)ºC with relativehumidity (60% ± 10%) under
12 hourdark and light cycle(3). Rats were given free
access to standard pellet diet and water ad
libitum(4). All experimental procedures were in
compliance with the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision
of Experiments on animals (CPCSEA) and were approved by Institutional
Animal Ethical Committee, with an approval number