Journal of Ethnopharmacology 139 (2012) 273–279 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Ethnopharmacology journa l h o me page: www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm Dual protective effect of Passiflora incarnata in epilepsy and associated post-ictal depression Bhupinder Singh, Damanpreet Singh, Rajesh Kumar Goel ∗ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Research, Punjabi University, Patiala 147002, Punjab, India a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 23 May 2011 Received in revised form 28 September 2011 Accepted 8 November 2011 Available online 15 November 2011 Keywords: Epilepsy Forced swim test Passiflora incarnata L. Pentylenetetrazol Post-ictal depression Serotonin a b s t r a c t Ethnopharmacological relevance: Passiflora incarnata L. (Passifloraceae) has been used for the treatment of epilepsy in several traditional systems of medicine. Aim of the study: The aerial parts of Passiflora incarnata contain multiple bioactive metabolites such as, flavonoids (like, chrysin that show CNS depressant activity by agonizing GABA–benzodiazepine receptor), amino acids (like, GABA), harmala alkaloids (reversible monoamine oxidase-A inhibitor), etc. In view of this, the present study was designed to investigate dual protective effect of the hydroethanolic extract of Passiflora incarnata in pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizure and associated post-ictal depression. Materials and methods: Different groups of mice were administered with repeated subconvulsive doses of PTZ (50 mg/kg; i.p.) at an interval of 5 days for 15 days. From 5th to 15th day the animals in different groups were administered daily with varying doses of hydroethanolic extract of Passiflora incarnata (150, 300, and 600 mg/kg; i.p.), diazepam (2 mg/kg; i.p.) and vehicle. On every 5th day, after PTZ treatment, seizure severity (score) was noted. Following convulsive episodes the locomotor activity (using actophotometer) and immobility period (using forced swim test) were also determined. On 15th day after behavioral assessment, the brain serotonin and noradrenaline levels were determined using spectrofluorometric methods. Results: Treatment with the extract significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the seizure severity and immobility period as compared to vehicle control, in a dose and time-dependent manner. Moreover, the extract treatment retained the serotonin and noradrenaline levels of the brain. Conclusions: The results of present study concluded that the hydroethanolic extract of Passiflora incarnata suppress PTZ-induced seizures, and ameliorates its associated post-ictal depression, which has been found to be get worsened with the standard antiepileptic drug, diazepam. © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by episodic and unpredictable incidence of epileptic seizures. It is commonly associated with the brain dysfunctions leading to sev- eral behavioral comorbidities like, depressive disorders (DDs) (Hecimovic et al., 2003). There is a high prevalence of DDs among epileptic patients. In a population-based survey it has been found that 29% of epileptic patients suffer from depression, in contrast to 8.7% of healthy individuals (Seminario et al., 2009). Abbreviations: CMC, Carboxymethyl cellulose; CNS, Central nervous system; DDs, Depressive disorders; DMSO, Dimethyl sulfoxide; FST, Forced swimming test; GABA, Gamma-aminobutyric acid; i.p., Intraperitoneal; MAO, Monoamine oxidase; OTC, Over-the-counter; PI, Passiflora incarnata hydroethanolic extract; PTZ, Pentylenetetrazol; RP-HPLC–UV, Reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet detection; s, Seconds. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 175 3046255; fax: +91 175 2283073. E-mail addresses: goelrkpup@gmail.com, goelrk us@ymail.com (R.K. Goel). In spite of high prevalence, the treatment of depression in epilepsy still remained a question. Depression in epileptic patients often goes untreated due to inevitable fear of the clinicians that antidepressant drugs may lower seizures threshold, and thus may worsen the epileptic condition. Even if treatment is attempted, it is limited to antidepressant drugs, again on trial basis as there is no specific drug available for the treatment of depression in epilepsy (Mula and Schmitz, 2009). On one hand, most of the antidepres- sant agents have a tendency to lower the seizures threshold; on other hand majority of antiepileptic drugs themselves causes CNS depression (Kanner, 2003a). The possible reason is the common pathogenic mechanisms among these two disorders, epilepsy and depression (Montgomery, 2005). Elevation of one leads to treat- ment of other, for example, electroconvulsive therapy has efficacy in treatment of depression, and epileptic patients experience an increased occurrence of depressive episodes, when seizures fre- quency falls in response to antiepileptic therapy (Jobe, 2003). All these issues indicate an unmet need for the discovery of remedies to treat depression in epilepsy, without affecting seizures 0378-8741/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2011.11.011