Preclinical Toxicity study on Poora Parpam

Siddha system is the ancient traditional system followed in South India mainly in Tamilnadu. It incorporates many herbal, mineral and metal based medicines. Pooram is mentioned under minerals and Poora Parpam is one of the notable medicine in the treatment of arthritis, syphilis and jaundice. Poora Parpam taken from the literature Veera Maamunivar Vaagada Thiratu in this study also indicated for the treatment of arthritis. The raw drug Pooram was procured from country drug shop and authenticated at Siddha Central Research Institute. Pooram was purified and the medicine was prepared as mentioned in the Siddha literature. Chemical analysis of unpurified and purified Pooram sample indicates the presence of mercury, phosphate, iron and magnesium. Analysis of the Poora Parpam confirmed the presence of mercury, phosphate, iron, magnesium, starch and tannic acid. In physico - chemical analysis of Pooram Parpam the pH was found to be 7.2 -7.5 and the loss on drying at 105ºc was 7.2% w/w. After HR SEM analysis, the particle size of the Poora Parpam was analyzed as 1-10 μ (micron). In ICP-OES study, heavy metals like As, Pb, Cd were found below detection limit in unpurified and purified Pooram. Mercury, calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorous, sodium levels were decreased in its level from unpurified to purified Pooram. Mercury was detected in minimal level in the finally prepared medicine Poora Parpam as (3.187). The toxicological evaluations were conducted as per WHO guidelines for safety evaluation of Poora Parpam. In Acute toxicity study there were no abnormal signs developed in Swiss albino mice at 10 times more than the therapeutic dose level (0.216 mg/animal) within 24 hrs. At the end of the study no mortality and reduction in body weight of control and test group animals were observed. In Long term toxicity study there were no significant changes in behavioral signs, hematological parameters, biochemical investigation, body weight, food and water intake. The lymphocyte count was increased in test groups, but compared with control group it is not statistically significant. The histopathological study on the organs such as heart, lungs, kidney, brain and liver was normal in X and 5 X groups compared with control group. In 10 X group, only the brain showed mild edema with separated glial cells and the other organs showed no abnormal histological variation. CONCLUSION: As the result of this study, it has been concluded that The decrease in heavy metal content of the prepared medicine when compared to raw drug analyzed by sophisticated instrument reveals the potential background of Siddhars knowledge in the field of metals, minerals and herbal usage in medicine preparation. Mainly the mercurial content of the prepared medicine showed drastic reduction when compared to that of unpurified raw drug (204.175 to 3.187). The acute and long term toxicity of Poora Parpam is found to be less toxic and the therapeutic dose level mentioned in the literature is a safer dose for human consumption. Hence further studies on Poora Parpam are to be conducted for its scientific validation and global acceptance