Acute and Sub-Acute Toxicological Study of Vanga Bhasma

Introduction: Vanga is a dhatu, that has been used externally since the Samhita period. During the rasa shastra era, vanga was utilized internally for Prameha, (urinary disorder ) Medoroga(diseases of medadhatu – fat tis-sue), Kapha Vikaras(diseases of kapha-bodily constitution ), and other purposes after Bhasmikara-na.(preaparation of Bhasma - medicine ) Objective: Evaluate Acute and Sub-acute toxicity of Vanga Bhasma. Materials &Methods: The acute and sub-acute toxicity studies of Vanga Bhasma were carried out on Wistar Albino rats using 425 and 407 OECD guidelines, respectively. Acute oral toxicity study of the test drug was car-ried out at the limit dose of 2000 mg/kg orally in rats. In a sub-acute toxicity study, Vanga bhasma was adminis-tered to rats for 28 consecutive days at doses of 22.5(TED-therapeutic equivalent dose), 112.5(TEDX5), and 225 mg/kg(TEDX10). The effects of the drug were assessed on haematological, biochemical, histological, and pon-deral parameters. Results: Acute toxicity: the study showed the LD 50 value of Vanga Bhasma is greater than 2000mg/kg. Sub-acute toxicity: this study did not produce any signs or symptoms of toxicity at TED, TEDX5, and TEDX10. Conclusion: The single dose of 2000mg/kg body weight evaluated by acute toxicity study is proved to be non-toxic. Overall analysis reveals that test drug vanga bhasma is very well tolerated at rat human therapeutic equivalent dose and multiples of it. Therefore, Vanga bhasma, prepared and administered in accord-ance with customary protocols, is safe to consume at therapeutic dose levels.