ABSTRACT
Many plants present in nature show adverse effects on other organisms, which leads to toxic response in the organisms. One of such plants is Sway or Muskrat root, i.e., Acorus calamus. It is a perennial plant creeping and highly branched, aromatic rhizome. It is cylindrical, up to 2.5 cm thick, purplish brown to light brown externally and white internally. It is a medicinal plant which is commonly used in traditional medicine as well as in Ayurveda, Unani and western herbal medicines. It is used for treatment of various ailments like chronic diarrhea, dysentery, intermittent fevers, eczema, rheumatism, epilepsy, tympanitis, otitis media, cough, asthma, and glandular and abdominal tumors. It contains many phytochemicals like α-Asarone, β-Asarone, linalool, epieudesmin and galgravin which show antimicrobial, insecticidal, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, anticonvulsant and anticancer activities. Apart from these pharmacological activities, A. calamus shows some toxic activities like behavioral abnormalities, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity when tested in vitro. In excess amount, A. calamus shows mortality in mice and rats. Despite these toxic effects, A. calamus can be used for therapeutics and in many medicines in lower concentrations.
