NEUROPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF FRACTIONAL FLOWER EXTRACTS OF MIRABILIS JALAPA AGAINST ALUMINIUM HYDROCHLORIDE INDUCED NEUROTOXICITY IN MALE WISTER RATS Original Article SITTY MANOHAR BABU * Southern Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, SIMS Group of Institutions, Mangaladas Nagar, Vijayawada Road, Guntur 522001, Andhra Pradesh, India Email: sittymanoharbabu@gmail.com , SURYAKANTA SWAIN, KARANAM RENUKA Received: 18 Jun 2016 Revised and Accepted: 31 Mar 2017 ABSTRACT Objective: The major objective of this present study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of fractional flower extracts (acetone, petroleum ether, methanol and aqueous) of Mirabilis jalapa (MJ) against aluminium hydrochloride-induced neurotoxicity in male wister rats. Methods: From the different fractional flower extracts of Mirabilis jalapa (MJ), two doses (250 and 500 mg/kg body weight) of each extract was initially selected and administered per orally 30 min prior to aluminium hydrochloride administration to the different animal groups once a day for a period of 45 d. Rat serum was collected from different animal groups on 1 st , 15 th , 30 th and 45 th Results: On the 9 days for estimation of marker enzymes, where a reduction in marker was observed. Animal was sacrificed by decapitation and the whole brain of rats was analyzed to estimate the levels of nitrite, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase (DOS), catalase, reduced glutathione and acetylcholinesterase (AchE). th Conclusion: This result is indicating evidence for Mirabilis jalapa had a significant neuroprotective effect on aluminium hydrochloride-induced neurotoxicity and also supports by histopathological studies. day the Wister rats were sacrificed and cerebral cortex was removed. One-half of the cerebral cortex samples from different groups of Aluminium hydrochloride treated rats were stored in FAM mixture (40% formaldehyde, acetic acid and methanol in the ratio of 1:1:8) for histological analysis. From the study confirmed that dose of 250 and 500 mg/kg bwt of methanolic extract of MJ significantly (p˂0.001) increases the reduced glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase level, whereas petroleum ether, acetone and aqueous fractional flower extracts of MJ significantly (p˂0.01) decreases nitrite, TBARS and AchE levels of aluminium hydrochloride treated groups. Keywords: Mirabilis jalapa, Memantine, Oxidative stress, Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, Neuroprotective activity © 2017 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ijpps.2017v9i5.17584 INTRODUCTION Mirabilis jalap (Four O' Clock flower or marvel of Peru) is a perennial herb or under a shrub belonging to the family Nyctaginaceae and it is the most commonly growing ornamental species of mirabilis found throughout india. The plant is decorative and a favourite garden plant with red, white, yellow, pink, purple and orange flowers. Mirabilis jalapa and its different extract are used in traditional medicine in various countries for the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, conjunctivitis, edema, inflammation, swellings, abdominal colics and muscular pain, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal etc [1]. Aqueous extract of Mirabilis jalapa increases the level of nitrites AchE, TBARS, reduction of glutathione (GSH), catalase and SOD (Superoxide dismutase) in rat cerebral cortex [2]. Aluminium hydrochloride metal is abundantly present in the earth crust and the environment it gets access to the human body via the gastrointestinal and the respiratory tracts. The daily intake of aluminium hydrochloride is estimated to be approximately 10-20 mg of cooking utensils, food additives, and medicine such as antacid or deodorants. Accumulation of aluminium hydrochloride in brain induces pathophysiology of neurodegenerative including Alzheimer’s, dementia, amylotrophic, lateral sclerosis, Guam- Parkinson's dementia etc [3]. Since a variety of biomolecules are bound to aluminium hydrochloride so it can displace the other biological cations (calcium and magnesium) from their binding sites in every metabolic pathway and shows the adverse effect of aluminium hydrochloride of the potential target site. Therefore, aluminium hydrochloride neurotoxicity is not caused by a single alteration, but it is probably a result of adverse effects at multiple cellular levels. Aluminium hydrochloride interacts with the cholinergic projection function and intensifying the inflammation in the pathological process of Alzheimer's, diseases (AD) [4]. Aluminium hydrochloride salts in biological tissue do not have any direct pro-oxidant properties; in fact, it potentiates the ability of iron salts to promote reactive oxygen species formation (ROS) [5]. In addition, aluminium hydrochloride has been reported to enhance peroxidative damage to lipid, protein and decrease antioxidant enzymes status. Aluminium hydrochloride has a potential to get accumulated in specific brain regions, which were earlier correlated with the degenerative changes [6]. Enhancement of cholinergic neurotransmission represents an important target for treating adult-onset cognitive disorders memantine is uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist. Several studies have shown that the drug produces a dose-related effect on cognitive function that was correlated with the degree of acetylcholinesterase inhibition in the cerebrospinal fluid [7]. From reported literature P. Selvakumar et al., performed a study on phytochemical screening and antioxidant activity of red flowered mirabilis jalapa leaf in different solvents. Keeping these things in mind the authors have examined the protective effect of Mirabilis jalapa flower extract on the impairment of cholinergic and anti- oxidant activity induced by aluminium hydrochloride in the cerebral cortex of male Wister rats. Apart from these histopathological studies is also undertaken to determine the morphological alteration in the cerebral cortex. MATERIALS AND METHODS Identification of plant collection The flowers of Mirabilis jalapa was collected, identified and authenticated by Mr. M. R. Paul Satyakeerthi, head of the development, department of Botany of Andhra Christian College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. A voucher specimen (BSI/SC/ 5/23/09-10/Tech/1616) has been deposited at the Department of Botany of Andra Christian College, Guntur for species identification of Mirabilis jalapa. International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN- 0975-1491 Vol 9, Issue 5, 2017