Journal of Pharmacy Research Vol.3.Issue 5.May 2010 Sudhakar Pemminati et al. / Journal of Pharmacy Research 2010, 3(5),1178-1180 1178-1180 Research Article ISSN: 0974-6943 Available online through www.jpronline.info * Corresponding author. *Dr. Gopalakrishna H.N.,Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology,Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University,Mangalore – 575 001. Tel.: + 91-O ) 0824 -2423452 Ext.- 5568 Telefax: +91- E-mail:pemmineti@yahoo.com I NTRODUCTI ON Epilepsy is the second most common disorder of central nervous system. It was characterized by recurrent episodes of disturbance of movement, sensation and consciousness. Conventionally used antiepileptic drugs are associated with many adverse effects 1,2 . Therefore there is a need for finding more effective and safer anticonvulsants. In recent years considerable interest has been focused on the role of herbal drugs in the treatment of epileptic disorders. In traditional Indian system of medicine Tantu Pashan is being used for the treatment of epilepsy. Tantu Pashan is a mixture of Piper nigrum, Piper longum and nanoparticles of Asbestos 3,4 . Piperine (1-peperoyl piperidine) is a major alkaloid isolated from the plants Piper nigrum Linn. and Piper longum 5 that belong to the family piperaceae. In Ayurveda, pepper and its derivatives are used to treat digestive disorder, cold, cough, intermittent fever, improved appetite, inflammation and epileptic fits 3 . Piper nigrum is still used in Chinese medicine for the treatment of epilepsy and for many other disease conditions 6 . Experimental evidence indicate that Piperine has analgesic,diuretic, antioxidant 7,8 ,anti-inflammatory 9 , blood pressure lowering 10 properties. Piperine also found to be effective in Alzheimers disease 11 and epilepsy 12 . But scientific data about the efficacy of Tantu Pashan is not available. Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of Tantu Pashan in two experimentally validated models of epilepsy like, (Maximal electrical shock) MES & (pentylenetetrazole) PTZ induced seizures in mice MATERIALS AND METHODS Animals Inbred male albino mice (Swiss strain) weighing between 25-30g were used in the study. Animals were acclimatized for a period of seven days prior to screening/experimentation. They were housed in groups of six in clean polypropylene cages with 12 hour light/dark cycle at 25±2.0ºC and 65±5% Effect of tantu pashan on electrical and chemical induced seizures in mice Sudhakar Pemminati, Gopalakrishna HN*, Swati B, Shreyasi C, Raghavendra B, Preethi G Pai,Pai MRSM Department of Pharmacology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Mangalore.India. Received on: 09-11-2009; Revised on: 16-01-2010; Accepted on:23-04-2010 ABSTRACT In traditional Indian system of medicine Tantu Pashan is being used for the treatment of epilepsy. Tantu Pashan is a mixture of Piper nigram, Piper chaba and Asbestos. But the scientific data about the efficacy of Tantu Pashan is not available. Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate efficacy of Tantu Pashan against maximal electrical shock (MES) and Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced seizures in mice. Inbred albino mice of either sex weighing between 25 to 30 g were divided into five groups, containing eight animals in each. In acute study, drugs / vehicle were administered one hour before the experiment. In chronic study, drugs /vehicle were administered once a day for 21days and the experiment was conducted one hour after the last dose. Tantu pashan on acute administration in MES induced seizures; only at the highest dose (160mg/kg) significantly reduced the duration of hind limb tonic extension, while in PTZ induced seizures, it did not alter the duration of seizures to any significant level when compared with control group. On chronic administration, the test drug significantly reduced the duration of tonic hind limb extension and also the clonus phase in MES induced seizures. But, in PTZ induced seizures, neither it reduced the duration of clonic convulsion nor protected the animals from death. Results indicates that Tantu Pashan has protective effect against MES, but not against PTZ induced seizures. Key words: Tantu Pashan, maximal electro-shock, epilepsy, pentylenetetrazole humidity. They had access to food (standard pellet diet) and water ad libitum except during overnight fasting prior to the challenge ( electrical stimulation or PTZ), during the test period in acute and chronic study. All experiments were carried out between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm. The study was conducted according to the Indian National Science Academy Guidelines for the use and care of experimental animals. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore. Drugs Tantu Pashan(TP) (M/s. Sagar Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd,India), sodium valproate (Cadila Laboratories, India) and PTZ (Sigma, USA) were dissolved in normal saline, which served as the vehicle. Animals were divided into five groups (n=8) for both, MES and PTZ induced seizures. After overnight fasting, group I received 10ml/kg vehicle and served as the control. Group II received sodium valproate (130mg/kg ); Groups III,IV and V received TP (40,80 and 160mg/kg ) 60 minutes prior to the test in acute study.Doses of TP and sodium valproate that were used in the study did not produce either gross changes in behaviour 13 or motor in-coordination in animals (results not shown) as assessed by the rota-rod and the traction tests 14 . For chronic study drugs/vehicle were administered once a day for 21 days and the convulsive challenge was given 60 minutes after administration of the last dose. Vehicle and drugs were adminis- tered orally. MES induced seizures: Forty eight hours before the test, each animal was exposed to the shock and those animals which showed all the phases of convulsion were chosen for the study. On the day of experimentation, 60 minutes after administration of drug/vehicle, seizure was induced by delivering an electrical shock (50mA at 50Hz for 0.2 sec) by means of a convulsiometer (Techno India) through a pair of ear clip electrodes. The duration of flexor and extensor phases was noted 15 . PTZ induced seizures: Sixty minutes after administration of drug/vehicle, animals were challenged with a convulsive dose of pentylenetetrazole (80 mg/kg body weight