Anti-Epileptic Potential of Ziziphus Vulgaris and Ferula Asafoetida Extracts in Drug Induced Seizure Models of Experimental Mice

Background: Ziziphus vulgaris (ZV) and Ferula asafoetida (FA) have phenolic compounds with potential anti-epileptic activity. Objective: This study was aimed to investigate the anti-epileptic potential of hydroalcoholic (30:70) crude extracts of ZV and FA. Methods: Different doses (5 mg/ml, 15 mg/ml, 25 mg/ml) of extracts from ZV and FA were separately administered intraperitoneally to groups (7/group) of male albino mice (20-30 g). Phenytoin (15 mg/ml, intraperitoneal) was used as positive control. After 30 min, tonic-clonic seizures were induced by intraperitoneal administration of picrotoxin (6 mg/ml) and strychnine (4 mg/ml) in separate groups. Animals were monitored for 1 h and different parameters including onset and frequency of seizures and protection (against mortality & seizures) were determined. Results: A dose dependent significant delay in onset and decrease in seizure frequency as well as mortality was observed in animals treated with plant extracts (ZV and FA). Positive control (phenytoin) also showed significant delay in seizure onset and decreased the seizure frequency. Conclusion: The plant extracts (ZV and FA) contain the phenolic compounds which may induce the GABAergic transmission that could be the most probable mechanism for their anti-epileptic activity. Molecular studies and histopathological analysis are required to elucidate the exact anti-epileptic mechanisms of ZV and FA extracts.