Pharmacological Evaluation of selected Ayurvedic, Unani and Herbal drugs for treatment of Epilepsy and Psychic depression in animal models

Abstract

India is a land of diverse cultures and traditions with rich heritage and lineage influenced by Moguls, Dutch, Portuguese and the British. Thus our medical system is also influenced by these diverse cultures and newlineethnic backgrounds. Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine of Indian subcontinent. Today in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, ayurveda is used by a number of people and is also gaining popularity in the west. Unani newlinesystem of medicine (unanipathy) originated in Greece, based on the principles propounded by Galen, a Greek practitioner and was called newlineGalenic. After him many Arab and Persian scholars enriched the system and developed Unani-Tibb. Now it has become an integral part of Indian traditional system of medicine. Using plant sources for illness has been a practice as old as mankind. But the major lacuna for all these medical newlinesystems is lack of proper scientific evidence. Hence the present study was newlineaimed as a small step towards explaining of particular selected ayurvedic, unani and herbal drugs. Drugs were selected for two chronic central nervous system disorders, namely, epilepsy and depression for newlineestablishing their efficacy in accordance with modern scientific system namely, allopathy. The drugs were chosen after consultation with the practitioners of the respective medical systems. The drugs selected for testing their efficacy in epilepsy were Panchagavya Ghrutham (ayurveda), Hab-e-Jund (unani) and Cynodon dactylon (herbal medicine). The drugs newlineselected for testing their antidepressant activity were Kushmanda Lehyam (ayurveda), Itrifal Kishneezi (unani) and Barleria cristata (herbal drug). The formulations were used as received and methanolic extracts newline10 were prepared for the herbal drugs. All the drugs were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening followed by acute toxicity studies following OECD guidelines.