Genotoxic evaluation of linkus polyherbal cough preparation in bone marrow of Wistar rats

A polyherbal Linkus cough syrup is popularly used against various respiratory ailments, however there is no information regarding its genotoxicity. Thus, Linkus extract [1 and 5 g/kg] was administered orally to Wistar rats [n=9-12] for 3, 7 and 14 consecutive days with 24h intervals. Negative and positive control animals received water or cyclophosphamide [20 mg/kg], respectively. At the end of experiment, rat femora were removed and marrow was collected in Hanks balanced salt solution, smeared onto glass slides and fixed in methanol [100%]. After drying, stained with Giemsa [5%] followed by the addition of DPX [A mixture of distyrene [a polystyrene], a plasticizer [tricresyl phosphate] and xylene] and observed under microscope at 100x magnification. In all the slides, normochromatic erythrocytes [PCE] with and without micronuclei were identified; their frequency was noted and photographed. In cyclophosphamide treated animals, number of both PCE and NCE with micronuclei increased significantly as compared to control indicating its genotoxic action. On the contrary, in the Linkus treated [1 and 5 g/kg] animals the frequency of micronuclei was similar to that of control group. Since, there was no difference in the duration of treatment with Linkus at 1 and 5 g/kg, the data was pooled. Additionally, mice [n=10/sex] treated orally with either 1 or 5 g/kg of Linkus showed neither behavioral changes nor mortality for a period of 1 week. It is concluded that Linkus [5 g/kg] in acute toxicity test is non-toxic and in rat bone marrow test it did not induce micronuclei formation and hence is non-genotoxic, thereby supporting its safe usage in humans

A novel HPTLC method for quantitative estimation of biomarkers in polyherbal formulation

Objective: To explore the quantitative estimation of biomarkers gallic acid and berberine in polyherbal formulation Entoban syrup. Methods: High performance thin layer chromatography was performed to evaluate the presence of gallic acid and berberine employing toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid: methanol 12:9:4:0.5 (v/v/v/v) and ethanol: water: formic acid 90:9:1 (v/v/v), as a mobile phase respectively. Results: The R