About 50 g of powdered shade dried roots of T. asiatica was extracted by maceration with chloroform water (2.5 ml of chloroform in 1000 ml of water) for 24 h followed by filtration and concentration to dryness. The aqueous extract for animal studies was prepared using distilled water containing 2 % w/v gum acacia (as a suspending agent). Both extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical studies [18, 19].