ABSTRACT

Co-administration of prescribed drug with that of over the counter products may either lead to altered therapeutic effect, adverse effects or depleted efficacy of one or both drugs. One such example is geriatric patients being treated with ayurvedic cardioprotectives formulations for ischemia generally suffer from bowel movement discomfort and tend to consume herbal laxatives simultaneously without physician’s consent. The proposed study was undertaken to determine whether any interaction exists when Arjuna, a cardioprotective agent is concomitantly administered orally with Haritaki churna, a laxative agent, in isoproterenol (subcutaneous administration) induced ischemic rats on pharmacodynamic level. Data was statistically evaluated by comparing the effect of combination group with that of isoproterenol control and Arjuna group on electrocardiogram (ECG) patterns, blood serum parameters, gastric motility using ONE WAY ANNOVA, p < 0.05 followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison test. Results suggests that there is significant decrease in cardioprotective efficacy of Arjuna when administered together with Haritaki.