Acute and Subacute Toxicity Studies on Vetiver Oil in Rats
Rashmi TRIPATHI*, Darpan KAUSHIK**^,°, Ashish TRIPATHI*, Vijaykumar P. RASAL***, Suroor Ahmed KHAN**

* College of Pharmacy, Jakhrota, Agra
** Jamia Hamdard University, Faculty of Pharmacy, New Delhi-110062, INDIA
** KLE’s College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacology, Belgaum- 590010, INDIA

^oCorresponding Author

Summary

The Vetiver plant,Vetiveria zizanioides linn. [Gramineae], is widely known from ancient ages. The vetiver oil is native of India. The medicinal and commercial importance of the oil has been known since ancient days. In the present study, an experimental approach is applied to vetiver oil to elicit toxic responses over an exposure period of 90 days. Since no data are available in this regard, it was thought worthwhile to undertake acute and subacute toxicity studies in male and female rats. Acute toxicity determination indicated that vetiver oil has LD50 values of 2985.38 mg/kg. The drug is practically non-toxic at oral doses. To carry out the subacute toxicity studies, the oil was administered to rats for 45 and 90 days, and the blood samples drawn from animals were subjected to full biochemical and hematological investigations. It was found that prolonged exposure of rats to vetiver oil exerted a mild hematotoxic effect and may alter lipid metabolism.

Key Words :
Vetiver oil, acute and subacute toxicity studies.