Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of Manasamitra vatakam, an Ayurvedic Formulation, on Aluminium-Induced Neurotoxicity in Rats

S V Thirunavukkarasu^1,2 , Lokesh Upadhyay², S Venkataraman^1,2

¹Department of Pharmacology, C.L. Baid Metha College of Pharmacy and Research Foundation; ²CARISM, Division of Biochemistry, SASTRA University, Tamilnadu, India.

For correspondence:- S Thirunavukkarasu Email: varasubio@rediffmail.com

Received: 13 March 2011 Accepted: 12 December 2011 Published: 21 February 2012

Citation: Thirunavukkarasu SV, Upadhyay L, Venkataraman S. Effect of Manasamitra vatakam, an Ayurvedic Formulation, on Aluminium-Induced Neurotoxicity in Rats. Trop J Pharm Res 2012; 11(1):75-83 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v11i1.10

© 2012 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Manasamitra vatakam (MMV), an Ayurvedic formulation, on aluminium (Al)-induced neurotoxicity in rats.

Methods: Wistar rats were selected for the present study and were divided into four groups of six animals each. Group I (control) received tap water while group II received aluminium chloride (AlCl₃, 100 mg/kg/day). Group III was treated with concurrently Al chloride (100 mg/kg/day) and MMV drug (100 mg/kg /day). Group IV were administered MMV (100 mg/kg/day) for 90 days. Behavioral tests were performed on the rats during the experiment. At the end of the experiment various biochemical, neurochemical and histopathological histopathological was assessments were also carried out on the blood and brain of the rats.

Results: Following MMV treatment, there was a significant recovery in the performance of the radial maze and muscle grip strength of the rats, as well as the levels of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), and acetylcholinestrase (AChE) in different parts of the rat’s brain. The neuroprotective efficacy of MMV was supported by histopathological observations. Furthermore, MMV afforded protection against oxidative damage in the rats.

Conclusion: MMV prevents Al-induced toxicity in peripheral as well as in central nervous systems of rats. Therefore, further studies are required to ascertain its usefulness in humans.

Keywords: Aluminium chloride, Behavioral studies, Neurotoxicity, Manasamitra vatakam