Assessment of the systemic toxicity of Laghu vishagarbha taila, an Ayurvedic medicated oil formulation after dermal exposure.

Laghu vishagarbha taila (LVT) is a medicated oil preparation used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine and applied topically for the treatment of painful musculoskeletal and inflammatory disorders. It contains some mildly poisonous phytoconstituents which may show untoward effects upon application. The present study evaluated the toxicity of LVT in the acute, subacute, and subchronic dermal toxicity study in Wistar rats. LVT was tested for its compliance using physicochemical and analytical parameters as per standard methods prescribed in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, while acute, subacute, and subchronic toxicity studies were carried out as per OECD 402, 410, and 411 guidelines, respectively. In the acute dermal toxicity study, a single dose of LVT (2000 mg/kg) was applied topically to rats, while in subacute and subchronic dermal toxicity study, the rats were topically applied LVT (1000 mg/kg) up to 28 and 90 days, respectively. LVT did not cause any alterations in clinical signs and no mortality or moribund stage was observed. The change in weekly body weight was insignificant compared with the vehicle control group. In subacute and subchronic dermal toxicity study, there were no significant changes in behavior, body weight, feed consumption, biochemical and hematological parameters, organ weight, and histological parameters compared with vehicle control rats. Topical application of single and repeated doses of LVT in rats did not exhibit adverse effects and suggests that the LD50 of LVT is more than 2000 mg/kg in the acute dose and NOAEL is more than 1000 mg/kg/day in repeated dose application.