Neelam Shukla, Saba Hasan, Anirban Pal
Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Viraj Khand-5, Gomtinagar, Lucknow (U.P.)-India – 226010, India.

ABSTRACT

Epilepsy refers to a collection of disorders affecting 1-2% of the global population. It is a brain disorder characterized by recurrent seizures and caused by both genetic factors and cortical damage. Several antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are used to suppress seizures like phenobarbitone but the response of one patient is different with another. Hence there is a need to develop more AEDs from plants because the drug derived from plants has minimal side effects. The present investigation has been carried out to develop a method for screening of anti epileptic activity of different plant extracts using as animal model i.e. fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The benefit of the experiment is to develop a simple, inexpensive and rapid method for screening of extracts expected to possess anti epileptic activity and also to validate an ethical animal model for screening purpose. The method of screening of epileptic drugs was found to be quite inexpensive and rapid. Total eight plants i.e. Bacopa, Centella, Convolvulus, Commiphora, Withania, Eclipta, Catharanthus and Caesalpinia were taken for study of anti epileptic and insecticidal activity. Among these, the extracts of Caesalpinia seed kernels showed highest anti epileptic activity followed by Catharanthus root, Bacopa and Withania root. The seed kernel of Caesalpinia bonducella and Centella whole plant extract showed highest insecticidal activity followed by Catharanthus root, Catharanthus leaf, Catharanthus flower, Withania (root), Withania (leaf), Commiphora and Caesalpinia bonducella seed coat. The Eclipta (whole plant) extract treatment was less toxic at larval stage but highly toxic at pupal stage. Read more…