For ex vivo studies, human blood was collected from healthy adult donors after informed consent. Erythrocytes were pelleted down in a centrifuge (1500xg, 5 minutes) from freshly collected heparinized blood, rinsed thoroughly with PBS (pH 7.4), and used to make a 1% cell suspension in PBS. Cipa extract ranging in concentration from 12.5 to 400 mg/L was added to the erythrocyte suspension and incubated at 37°C for 1 hour. After this, the samples were spun down, and the absorbance of the supernatant measured at 576 nm to determine the extent of erythrocyte lysis. Controls wherein erythrocytes were incubated with buffer alone (0% lysis), DMSO alone (Cipa solvent) and 0.1% Triton X-100 (100% lysis) were processed in parallel. Basal platelet count in freshly collected heparinized blood and in blood pre-incubated with DMSO (vehicle) or Cipa extract (2–10 μg/ml) for different durations (1–4 hours) was determined using a Beckman Coulter hematology analyser.