Evaluation of Acute Toxicity and Anti-Tussive activity of Ayurvedic Sugar Free Cough Syrup

INTRODUCTION Cough is a protective reflex that helps to expel irritant matter and is necessary for preventing mechanical obstruction to breathing.[1] It is the most common symptom affecting a large population and presenting to general practitioners. It can also be associated with the pulmonary diseases like common cold, pneumonia and chronic bronchitis.[2] Up to 40% of patients with chronic cough remain unexplained in specialist clinics and are observed creating serious health problems.[3, 4] Both acute and chronic cough have significant impacts on health-related quality of life. Drugs that suppress cough are designated as antitussives. Some of them act on the central nervous system to inhibit cough while others produce their effects locally. Centrally (codeine and ephedrine) and peripherally (bromhexine and guaefenesin) acting anti-tussives produce known side effects such as sedation, constipation, drowsiness and addiction which make their use limited.[5-7] Therefore, a need is felt to develop an effective anti-tussive and expectorant drug without any side effects. In present study, selected Ayurvdic sugar free cough syrup consists extracts of Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi) Aerial,[8-10] Adhatoda vasica (Vasa) Leaves,[6,11-13] Trikatu [Compound of Shunthi (Zingiber officinale) Rhizome, Marich (Piper nigrum) fruit and Pippali (Piper longum) fruit],[14,15] Zingiber officinale (Shunthi) Rhizome,[16] Glycyrrhiza glabra (Yashtimadhu) Root,[9, 17] Solanum xanthocarpum (Kantakari) Whole plant[9, 18] along with powder of Navasar [9, 19] and Menthol [9, 20, 21]. Each of these ingredients is reported to have direct or indirect anti-tussive and expectorant activity however no scientific evidences were available to prove safety and anti-tussive activity of their combination. Hence, the present study was carried out to evaluate acute toxicity and anti-tussive activity of selected Ayurvedic sugar free cough syrup using sulphur dioxide induced cough model in albino mice.