Comparative toxicity study of various dosage forms of <i style="">Sammul far </i>(Arsenic trioxide) in mice

Abstract

<i style="">Sammul far</i> (Arsenic trioxide) is a poison but its use in Unani medicine as a therapeutic agent is common, of course, after subjecting it to various processes of detoxification. Two forms of processed Arsenic, i.e. simply processed by grinding it along with certain other drugs (<i style="">Mudabbar/</i>detoxified form), and by burning it at a very high temperature and getting its oxide (<i style="">Kushta</i>/calcined form) are widely used by Unani physicians. However, these two forms have not been studied scientifically for their toxic potential or pharmacological and therapeutic profile. Therefore, a study was designed to evaluate acute and sub acute toxicity of <i style="">Sammul far</i> processed by different methods in albino mice with an aim to prepare their toxicity/safety profile and find the safest dosage form through their inter comparison. The data obtained from the study were analyzed by using <i style="">Kruskal Wallis</i> with Dunn’s multiple pair comparison test, and ANOVA non- repeated measure. A thermogram was also prepared by recording the heat pattern during the course of preparation of <i style="">Kushta</i> by conventional method (as described in Unani literature) and was standardized for preparation of <i style="">Kushta </i>by a furnace. The study revealed <i style="">Mudabbar </i>form to be more toxic than the calcined form. Further, <i style="">Kushta</i> prepared by furnace was safer than that prepared by classical method.