In-vivo study protocol
Six male rabbits aged 3 months, weighing approximately 3 kg
each were selected for this study. Rabbits were divided into three
treatment groups of two animals each and housed in individual
metal cages in the Medical School’s test animal facilities (University
Hospital of Heraklion, Crete). They kept in a 12 h dark/light cycle
with average temperature 25 C and fed with commercial
rabbit pellets ab libitum. Potable (tap) water was also provided. Following
a one-week acclimation, two of the groups were treated
with two different sub-acute doses of IMI via potable water. Since
oral LD50 values for rabbits were not reported before the sub-acute
doses were estimated on the basis of known values for rats and two
different doses were used to cover the evaluated sub-acute range
in rabbits (Meister, 1994). The IMI low dose (ILD) group was exposed
to 40 mg kg1 d1 and the IMI high dose (IHD) group to
80 mg kg1 d1, diluted in clean tap water, during a period of
twenty-four successive weeks (approx. 6 months) with the administration
performed three times per week. The total amount of ingested
IMI for each test animal of the ILD group was 21900 mg and
the corresponding amount for the IHD group was 43800 mg. A
control group of rabbits was also used. Dietary habits concerning
water and food consumption were noted during the study. All rabbits
were observed regularly and their health condition was recorded
as well. There was no clinical evidence of acute poisoning
by the ingested amounts of IMI.