J Biochem Tech (2012) 4(1):541-548 ISSN: 0974-2328 Tridham (TD), a polyherbal formulation is assessed for its acute (72 hr) and subacute toxicity (28 days) and also its significance on histological, hematological and biochemical variations in albino wistar rats. Body weight and general behavior of animal was observed throughout the experimental period and at the end of the study period organ weight, haematological and biochemical parameters of blood and urine, as well as kidney and liver histology were evaluated. Results of the studies performed indicated no toxic clinical symptoms or histopathological lesions in both acute and subacute toxicity, which clearly shows that TD extract has high margin of safety. Keywords: Toxicity assessment, Polyherbal formulation, Tridham, Terminalia chebula, Eleocarpus ganitrus, Prosopis cineraria. Introduction Plants have broader uses than as just food and genetic reservoirs. Medicinal plants have been used for centuries to treat wide variety of ailments (Vaidya and Devasagayam, 2007). The presence of secondary metabolites in plants has been associated in most of their therapeutic activities (Ogunleye and Ibiyoye, 2003). Herbal medicines are now considered a part of Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM) and are gaining popularity due to their potent antioxidant activity, minimal side effects and economic viability (Auddy et al. 2003). Active principles from natural sources have contributed significantly to the development of new drugs from medicinal plants (Cox and Balick, 1994). Among the different type of herbal medicine, Siddha medicine is a form of traditional medicine, used for nearly 10,000 years by Indian people. This ancient Siddha System of Medicine has its own unique nature in respect of physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and therapeutics (Shanmugavelan and Sundararajan, 1992). Tridham (TD) is a combination of three plant ingredients including seed coats of Terminalia chebula, fruits of Eleocarpus ganitrus and leaves of Prosopis cineraria in equal proportions. It is used by traditional practitioners practicing Siddha medicine and indigenous systems. TD has been proved for its potential anticancer and antioxidant properties against Aflatoxin B 1 induced rat hepatocellular carcinoma (Vijaya et al. 2011). The medicinal properties of Terminalia chebula, a constituent of TD, has been acknowledged from olden times and were detailed by Charaka in his text “Charaka Samhita” (Gandhi and Nair, 2005) and it also called as “King of Medicines”. It has been used widely in ayurveda, unani and homeopathy (Chattopadhyay and Bhattacharyya, 2007; Mahesh et al. 2009). Extensive studies reported on T. chebula for its wide spectrum of biological properties such as anti-bacterial (Kim et al. 2006), anti- fungal (Bonjar, 2004), anti-diabetic (Sabu and Kuttan, 2002) antioxidant (Cheng et al. 2003; Lee et al. 2005), anti-cancer (Saleem et al. 2002), hepatoprotective (Tasduq et al. 2006; Lee et al. 2007) and anti- mutagenic (Grover and Bala, 1992). E. ganitrus, which belongs to the Elaeocarpaceae family, is used in ayurveda for treating various diseases such as mental illness, epilepsy, asthma, hypertension, anti- aging, arthritis, hysteria, cough and hepatic diseases (Gaurav et al. 2010). The E. ganitrus fruit contains several phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, steroids, triterpenoids tannins, flavonoids, carbohydrates and cardiac glycosides (Farnsworth, 1966). Singh et al. 2000 reported a significant amount of phytocomponents such as isoelaeocarpicine, elaeocapine isoelaeocarpine and quercetin, gallic, ellagic acids and rudrakine. Three new ellagic acid derivatives of eleocarpaceae, 4-Omethylellagic acid 3-0-a-rhamnoside, 4-O- methylellagic acid 30-(300-O-acetyl)-a-rhamnoside and 4-O- methylellagic acid 30-(400-Oacetyl)- a-rhamnoside in addition to the known ellagic acid derivative, 4-O-methylellagic acid 30- (200,300-di-O-acetyl)-a-rhamnoside are used in multi targeted therapy of cancer (Heber, 2008) and a significant antioxidant competence due to its rich content of tannins and flavonoids (Sathish kumar et al. 2008). Prosopis species has been widely used Toxicological, biochemical and histopathological evaluation of Tridham, a siddha medicine in Wistar albino rats Ravindran Jaganathan, Vijaya Ravinayagam, Sachdanandam Panchanadham, Shanthi Palanivelu * Received: 22 September 2012 / Received in revised form: 06 June 2013, Accepted: 06 June 2013, Published online: 30 June 2013 © Sevas Educational Society 2008-2013 Ravindran Jaganathan, Vijaya Ravinayagam, Shanthi Palanivelu* Department of Pathology, Dr. ALM Post Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, Taramani campus, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, 600113 * Email: pshanthi9@yahoo.co.in Sachdanandam Panchanadham Department of Medical Biochemistry, Dr. ALM Post Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, Taramani campus, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, 600113 Abstract