PROMISING ANTI CONVULSANT EFFECT OF A HERBAL DRUG IN WISTAR ALBINO RATS

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic disease affecting human beings.This brain disorder is characterized by tendency for recurrent seizures or fits. The seizures can leads to loss of consciousness, disturbance of movement, muscle spasms, autonomic and mental functions. In Ayurveda the epilepsy is correlated to Apasmara by classical symptomatology especially under generalized tonic-clonic seizure.Treatment of epilepsy is a long-term process and usage of conventional antiepileptic drugs Carbamazepine, Valproic acid, Ethosuximide, Phenobarbital, Benzodiazepine and Phenytoin produce unpleasant side effects in long run. So a safe herbal medicine in this condition is a necessity. The traditional healers of kerala, in their practice they widely use one herbal drug called Guchapatra (Ruta graveolens L) commonly known as Aruta in Malayalam. The plant is administered as ghrita (a preparation with ghee as the main base) for the effective management of Apasmara (Epilepsy). Guchapatra (Ruta graveolens L) is a strongly odoriferous perennial herb belonging to the family Rutaceae. The claim of anti epileptic effect of Ghee prepared with Ruta graveolens is not proven scientifically till date. The aim of present study is to test Guchapatra (Ruta graveolens .L) for its anti-convulsant effect by Maximal electroshock seizure (MES) method in Albino rats. The drug was administered in the form of Ghrita. The experiment was carried out in 3 groups having 6 Wistar albino rats per group. Phenytoin was the standard drug. Group 1 (control – distilled water), Group 2 (standard drug - Phenytoin), Group 3 (Normal dose of Guchapatra ghritam (Ghee prepared with Ruta graveolens. L). Reduction in duration of Tonic Hind Limb Extension (THE) in seconds or the complete absence of tonic extensor phase of MES convulsions was taken as the assessment criteria for Anti-convulsant effect. The observations statistically analyzed using one way ANOVA and Post Hoc Tukeys multiple comparison tests. The in-vivo experiment revealed that the Guchapatra (Ruta graveolens. L) as a ghrita (Ghee) preparation posses equal anti- convulsant effect in comparison with standard drug Phenytoin.