PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTICONVULSANT STUDIES OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF CELASTRUS PANICULATUS WILLD ON LABORATORY ANIMALS
Kaynaat Khan, Harshita Jain, Hricha Soni, Unnati Choubey, Arpit Shrivastava
ABSTRACT
Bio-efficacy of plants and their derivatives have been reemphasized in recent times. Celastrus paniculatus Willd (C. paniculatus, Celastraceae), commonly known as Malkangni or Jyotishmati was used to treat brain related disorders. C. paniculatus seeds and seed oil have been used in Ayurvedic medicine for stimulating intellect and sharpening the memory. Celastrus seeds have been reported to possess hypolipidemic and antiatherosclerotic, antispermatogenic, antioxidant, anxiolyti, antistress and nootropic activities. The objective of the present study was to investigate the phytochemical properties and the anticonvulsant potential of the ethanolic leaf extract of C. paniculatus. The phytochemical screening was carried out using standard protocol while the anticonvulsant activity was studied using isoniazid-induced (300mg/kg, i.p) seizure in Swiss albino mice. The preliminary phytochemical screening carried out on the crude ethanol extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, carbohydrates, phenols, flavonoids, steroid and tannins. Epileptic seizure challenged animals treated with ethanolic leaves extract of C. paniculatus at doses 100mg/kg and 300mg/kg showed reduction of Isoniazid (INH)-induced epileptic seizure. Onset of seizure was found to increase and the extension phase of seizure was found to be lowered in the extract treated animals as compared to control group. The ethanolic leaves extract of C. paniculatus significantly delayed the onset of epileptic seizure induced by INH. Thus the overall results suggest that the ethanolic leaves extract of C. paniculatus contains some active principles which may possess significant antiepileptic activity.
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