Anticonvulsant evaluation of Rauvolfia ligustrina Willd. ex Roem. & Schult., Apocynaceae, in rodents

• Autor(a) principal: Quintans-Júnior,Lucindo J.
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Siqueira,Jullyana S., Melo,Mônica S., Silva,Davi A., Morais,Liana C. S. L., Souza,Maria de Fátima V., Almeida,Reinaldo N.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-695X2010000100012
• topic: Rauvolfia ligustrina; pentylenetetrazole; picrotoxin; kindling; flumazenil

The Aim of this study was to evaluated the effects of the ethanol extract of Rauvolfia ligustrina Willd. ex Roem. &amp; Schult., Apocynaceae, roots (EER) in animal models of epilepsy. The EER increased the latency for convulsions significantly different from control (p<0,05) and in the PTZ induced convulsions test on 62,5 mg/kg (i.p.) decreased mortality. This effect was blocked by flumazenil administration, suggesting an involvement of GABAergic system in the anticonvulsant activity of EER. The EER had a moderate effect only against PIC- or STR-induced convulsions at doses 125 and 250 mg/kg. But in the MES test it did not demonstrate effect on this animal model. Therefore, the EER reduced the development of PTZ-induced kindling in both experimental groups. It also significantly (p<0.05) decreased the latency for convulsions and reduced its percentage. Our results suggest that EER owns anticonvulsant property.