Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology:

Activities:

	Screening of bioactivity: Herbal extracts obtained from the plants collected from different parts of U.A.E. are supplied to the Department for the screening pharmacological activities, based on the ethnolpharmacological and scientific information provided. Areas of research are identified according to the major health problems prevalent in the country. Animal models to study the effects of the herbal extracts in Diabetes & other metabolic disorders, Gastro-intestinal diseases, Asthma, Cardiovascular diseases, Pain & Inflammation, Hair growth, Sexual activity, Hepatotoxicity and CNS disorders have been established in the Department. The department has screened about 60 medicinal plants of U.A.E. so far.
	Safety evaluation: Acute toxicity studies are performed on the plant extracts and if found safe, they are screened for pharmacological activities. On confirmation of the efficay in animal models, toxicity studies of the extract are carried out in experimental animals. Pilot scale formulation of safe and pharmacologically active extracts for clinical trials, are also being done.
	Evaluation of herbal medicine samples: The Department also carries out screening tests for efficacy and safety of herbal medicine samples received from outside and Ministry of Health. About 30 herbal samples, commonly used by the local population, have been evaluated by the Department for their safety and efficacy. The Department is also assisting the Drugs Control Laboratory in the pharmacological evaluation of certain herbal products submitted to the Ministry of Health for registration in U.A.E. The department is equipped and capable of carrying out a number of pharmacological and toxicological experiments to screen the bioactivity and safety of the herbal materials.
	Academic activities: The Department is actively involved in academic activities apart from its routine research programme. The staff is engaged in presenting the findings, which are permitted for publication, in International Conferences and in scientific journals. The department has published 8 original scientific articles in international refereed journals and 38 abstracts in international conferences on herbal medicine. Training is imparted to the students from U.A.E. University, Al Ain, in the pharmacological and toxicological evaluation of medicinal plants.

Animal unit: The Unit is maintained according to the accepted international standards. The unit breeds and rears laboratory animals viz. mice (T/O, MF1 and Balb C), rats (SD, Wistar, WH, SHR and WKY), rabbits (NZW) and guinea pigs (DH), according to the research requirements. The Animal unit supplies the laboratory animals required for the pharmacological and toxicological studies.