Neuroprotective Activity of Saussrealappa (Clarke) on Experimental Animal Model

Neuroprotection refers to the strategies and relative mechanism able to defused the central nervous system against the neuronal injury. Depression is whole body illness which involves not only mood or emotion but also the physical body and thought process. There are two types of mental depression namely unipolar depression in which mood swings is common (about 75 % of cases). The second type is bipolar depression (about 25 % of cases) sometimes also called as endogenous depression. Many theories proposed to explain the mechanism of ageing at the molecular level the oxidative stress or free radical hypothesis has received wide support at the biochemical level oxidation. Neurodegeneration is a process involved in both neuropath logical conditions and brain ageing although the brain accounts for less than 2 % of the body weight it consumes about 20 % of the oxygen available through respiration. Many flavonoids extracted from nature plants have been reported to exert antidepressant like effect in animal studies. Saussurea lappa (Compositae) is cultivated as a medicinal plant in the Himalayas. Costi Amari radix or costus root was an important item of Roman trade with India, and is believed to have been the dried root of Saussurea lappa have reviewed extensively the medicinal importance. The animals treated with Saussurea lappa extract produced dose dependent activity against neurological deficit, anti-depressant activity and Nootropic activity. Anxiolytic effect was not produced by the extract.