What this study adds :
INTRODUCTION
Traditional Systems of medicines are playing a key role in meeting the global health care needs. India has different recognized systems of medicine. They are Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Yoga, Naturopathy Homoeopathy and Sowa Rigpa. Among them Siddha is the unique system of medicine which is originated from Tamil nadu and has its origins in Tamil language. Literally the word “Siddha” means “established truth”. Siddha system of medicine was claimed to alleviate the root cause of the diseases by maintaining the ratio of Vatham, Pitham and Kapham. The origin of the Siddha system of medicine is attributed from ancient saint called Siddhars(1).
Urai Mathirai is a drug used for the past three decades in the form of long finger size bullets which are rubbed and administered through breast milk with children’s to improve immunity to get free from health hazards such as frequent respiratory infections /gastrointestinal infections and anorexia. For global acceptance, this system of medicine should undergo scientific validation, i.e., upgrading the one of the levels is safety of the dose(2).
The acute and sub acute toxicity of the Siddha herbal formulation urai mathirai was administered orally at a dose of 10, 50 and100 mg/kg.b.wt for 28 days does not showed any toxicity effect in wistar rats.
Hence the present study was performed to evaluate the chronic toxicity of the Siddha herbal formulation Urai Mathirai in experimental wistar rats. Through this study the safety of this herbal drug can be established for the clinical use of this traditional formulation among the children’s to improve immunity.