Evaluation of safety of Moringa oleifera leaves and Tinospora cordifolia stem extracts using acute toxicity protocols

Moringa oleifera and Tinospora cordifolia is widely used as a part of food and in traditional medicine for the treatment of a variety of diseases. Since these plants are consumed by people almost daily it is important to evaluate the toxicity and safety in recognized animal models used for allopathic medicines. Swiss albino mice were administered single dose of 5000 mg/kg b. wt. orally of the extracts of these plants according to the Limit test under Acute Oral Toxicity - Up-and-Down-Procedure (UDP) described in the OECD Guideline 425. The control animals were administered distilled water. The mice were observed for toxic signs and symptoms at frequent interval up to 24 hours and daily for 14 days. The body weights of treated and control animals were recorded on alternate days. Animals were sacrificed on 14^th day and hematological parameters (Hb, TEC, TLC and DLC) and relative organ weight of various body organs (heart, liver, spleen, kidney, testis and epididymis) were recorded. The student's t-test was applied to statistically analyze the results. The changes in hematological parameters were not significant betweentreated and control groups. Also the values of relative organ weights of various body organs did not differ significantly between the control and treated animals. This study indicated that oral administration of Moringa oleifera and Tinospora cordifolia up to 5000 mg/kg showed no changes in clinical signs or gross pathology and that the LD₅₀ was greater than 5000 mg/kg.