Umukoro Solomon, Omogbiya Itivere Adrian, Eduviere Anthony Taghogho
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Basic Clin Neurosci. 2013 Spring;4(2):125-9.
Epilepsy is a common central nervous system (CNS) disorder characterized by seizures resulting from episodic neuronal discharges. The incidence of toxicity and refractoriness has compromised the clinical efficacy of the drugs currently used for the treatment of convulsions. Thus, there is a need to search for new medicines from plant origin that are readily available and safer for the control of seizures. Jobelyn(®) (JB) is a unique African polyherbal preparation used by the natives to treat seizures in children. This investigation was carried out to evaluate whether JB has anti-seizure property in mice.
The animals received JB (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, p.o) 30 min before induction of convulsions with intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of picotoxin (6 mg/kg), strychnine (2 mg/kg) and pentylenetetrazole (85 mg/kg) respectively. Diazepam (2 mg/kg, p.o.) was used as the reference drug. Anti-seizure activities were assessed based on the ability of test drugs to prevent convulsions, death or to delay the onset of seizures in mice.
JB (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, p.o) could only delay the onset of seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole (85 mg/kg, i.p.) in mice. However, it did not did not offer any protection against seizure episodes, as it failed to prevent the animals, from exhibiting tonic-clonic convulsions caused by pentylenetetrazole (85 mg/kg, i.p.), strychnine (2 mg/kg) or picrotoxin (6 mg/kg, i.p.). On the other hand, diazepam (2 mg/kg, i.p.), offered 100% protection against convulsive seizures, induced by pentylenetetrazole (85 mg/kg, i.p.). However, it failed to prevent seizures produced by strychnine (2 mg/kg, i.p.) or picrotoxin (6 mg/kg, i.p.).
Our results suggest that JB could not prevent the examined chemoconvulsants-induced convulsions. However, its ability to delay the latency to seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole suggests that JB might be effective in the control of the seizure spread in epileptic brains.
癫痫是一种常见的中枢神经系统（CNS）疾病，其特征为发作性神经元放电导致的癫痫发作。毒性和难治性的发生率已经影响了目前用于治疗惊厥的药物的临床疗效。因此，有必要从植物来源寻找更容易获得且控制癫痫发作更安全的新药。Jobelyn(®)（JB）是一种独特的非洲多草药制剂，当地人用其治疗儿童癫痫发作。本研究旨在评估JB对小鼠是否具有抗癫痫特性。
在用腹腔注射匹鲁卡品（6mg/kg）、士的宁（2mg/kg）和戊四氮（85mg/kg）分别诱导惊厥前30分钟，给动物口服JB（5、10和20mg/kg）。地西泮（2mg/kg，口服）用作对照药物。基于受试药物预防小鼠惊厥、死亡或延迟癫痫发作起始的能力评估抗癫痫活性。
JB（5、10和20mg/kg，口服）仅能延迟戊四氮（85mg/kg，腹腔注射）诱导的小鼠癫痫发作的起始。然而，它没有对癫痫发作提供任何保护，因为它未能防止动物出现由戊四氮（85mg/kg，腹腔注射）、士的宁（2mg/kg）或匹鲁卡品（6mg/kg，腹腔注射）引起的强直阵挛性惊厥。另一方面，地西泮（2mg/kg，腹腔注射）对戊四氮（85mg/kg，腹腔注射）诱导的惊厥性癫痫发作提供了100%的保护。然而，它未能预防由士的宁（2mg/kg，腹腔注射）或匹鲁卡品（6mg/kg，腹腔注射）引起的癫痫发作。
我们的结果表明，JB不能预防所检测的化学惊厥剂诱导的惊厥。然而，其延迟戊四氮诱导癫痫发作潜伏期的能力表明，JB可能对控制癫痫大脑中癫痫发作的传播有效。
