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