Antiepileptic Ayurvedic Medicinal Herb: Centella Asiatica

Centella asiatica (gotukola) has been used as a medicine in the Ayurvedic tradition of India for thousands of years. It is listed in the historic Susruta samhita, an ancient Indian medicinal text. In China, gotukola is one of the reported “Miracle elixirs of life”. In 19th century, Gotukola and its extracts were incorporated into the Indian pharmacopeia and considered as the Food for the brain. This study evaluated the anticonvulsant effect of chloroform extract of Centella asiatica (CA) with particular reference to carbohydrate metabolism in different types of rat muscles. The rats were randomly divided into 4 groups having 6 in each group: i.e. Control group received Saline, PTZ-induced epileptic group (60 mg/kg b.w op/ 1 day), Epileptic group pretreated with chloroform extract (CE), and Epileptic group pretreated with Diazepam (DP; Reference control) (2 mg/kg b.w/ip/ day). The CA extract is administered at the dose of 200 mg/kg body weight orally for one week. The experimental results were observed that the decreased content of Total carbohydrates in the muscles i.e. White Vastus (WV), Red Vastus (RV), Soleus (Sol) and Gastrocnemius (GN); increased the glycogen and glucose levels during PTZ-induced epilepsy in all the muscles. The reversal changes were observed on pre treatment with the chloroform extract and diazepam. Hence, it is evident that the different bioactive factors of Centella offered protection against PTZ-induced epilepsy.