ARTICLE IN PRESS IJPT | January 2012 | vol. 11 | no. 1 | 15-19 ORIGINAL ARTICLE 1 The Involvement of Non Opioidergic Mechanism in 2 the Antinociceptive and Antilocomotive Activity of 3 Bacopa monnieri 4 MUZAFFAR ABBAS, FAZAL SUBHAN, KHALID RAUF, IKRAM-UL-HAQ, and 5 SYED NADEEM-UL-HASSAN MOHANI 6 For author affiliations, see end of text. 7 Received February 12, 2011; Revised May 9, 2011; Accepted June 27, 2011 8 This paper is available online at http://ijpt.iums.ac.ir 9 ABSTRACT 10 A hydroethanolic extract (HE-ext) of Bacopa monnieri (BM) was studied for antinociceptive effect in the 11 animal models of acetic-acid-induced writhing test and antilocomotive effect in mice. Standard centrally- 12 acting analgesic, morphine (MP), and peripherally-acting one, diclofenac (Diclo), were also tested along 13 with the extract for comparison. The extract exhibited significant antinociceptive effect (p < 0.001) in this 14 test, not antagonized by the opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone (NLX) in a fashion similar to diclofenac. 15 This excluded the involvement of opioids in the mediation of antinociceptive response of Bacopa 16 monnieri. Moreover, the BM HE-ext exhibited highly significant antilocomotive (p < 0.0001) that was also 17 unaffected by naloxone. These results indicate that Bacopa monnieri possesses antinociceptive and 18 antilocomotive effect that may be mediated through non-opioidergic mechanism. 19 Keywords: Bacopa monnieri, Hydroethanolic extract, Antinociceptive activity, Acetic-acid-induced 20 writhing test, Antilocomotive effect 21 Bacopa monnieri (family: Scrophulariaceae) [1] also 22 known as Bacopa monniera, water hyssop, Herpestis 23 monnieri is a perenial creeping, succulent herb found in 24 marshy areas of Indo-Pak subcontinent [2]. In India, It 25 is commonly known as “Brahmi” as an ancient and 26 renowned medicinal plant with legendary reputation as 27 a memory vitalizer [3]. Bacopa monnieri is held in high 28 repute to be the brain booster and is highly valued in 29 conditions affecting CNS. In ancient traditional system 30 of medicine, it is often prescribed for epilesy, insomnia, 31 and psychiatric disorders such as mental breakdown in 32 Alzheimer’s disease [4], neuralgia, and memory loss 33 [15]. It is known to possess cardiotonic, sedative, 34 analgesic, anticonvulsant, anti-inflammotry [6], 35 antioxidant [7], anticancer, antipyretic, laxative, 36 diuretic, antistress [8], and anxiolytic [9] properties. In 37 this study, we have examined Bacopa monnieri for 38 antinociceptive and antilocomotive activity in animal 39 models. 40 MATERIALS AND METHODS 41 Bacopa monnieri 42 Bacopa monnieri was collected from Ramli stream 43 near Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan and 44 authenticated by Dr. Muhammad Ibrar, Professor of 45 Botany University of Peshawar. A reference specimen 46 was submitted to the herbarium of the Botany 47 Department, University of Peshawar and a voucher 48 specimen (029006/Bot. University of Peshawar) was 49 obtained. 50 Preparation of Bacopa monnieri extract 51 Aerial parts were separated from roots, dried under 52 shade and coarsely grinded. The coarsely-ground 53 material was extracted with 70% ethanol and was 54 concentrated on rotary evaporator at 60 0 C, and then to 55 semisolid form (% yield: 37.25). 56 1735-2657/12/111-15-19 IRANIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY &THERAPEUTICS Copyright ｩ 2012 by Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) IJPT 11: 15-19, 2012 Downloaded from ijpt.iums.ac.ir at 13:57 IRST on Monday December 6th 2021