Withania somnifera

Plant derived medicines are popularly used nowadays considering their natural origin and low side effects. Phytochemical compounds are responsible for their various biological activities. Qualitative evaluation of such formulations is a challenging task due to high variability of their chemical components. This work aimed at preparing and evaluating a polyherbal anti-stress medicine, formulated using four potent Ayurvedic drugs namely Withania somnifera, Valeriana wallichii, Bacopa monnieri and Piper longum and also isolating a bioactive marker compound from the same.The formulation was prepared as per classical methods of Ayurveda and analysed for physicochemical characters like loss on drying, total ash content, acid insoluble ash, water soluble extractive value and alcohol soluble extractive value by standard methods. Phytochemical analysis was performed for detecting presence of carbohydrates, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, steroids, Terpenoids, glycosides and saponins and for estimating active groups like total phenolic content, flavonoids, tannins and saponins. High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography fingerprint profiling was performed to confirm the presence of various phytocompounds. The biomarker compound was isolated by column chromatography method and characterized by UV-Visible, H1-NMR, C13-NMR and Mass spectroscopy methods. Physicochemical analysis showed presence of about 18% water soluble components and about 14% alcohol soluble components. Preliminary phytochemical analysis confirmed presence of carbohydrate, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, steroids, glycosides, phytosterols and saponins. Quantitative analysis showed presence of about 7.6% phenols, 1.3% flavonoids, 1.1% tannins and 3.5% saponins. Spectroscopic study indicated isolated compound is a phenolic compound 3, 4, 5-tri hydroxybenzoic acid.

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic diseases of the nervous system. In recent years many plants have been tested for their Anti-epileptic properties. This study aims in evaluating the anti-epileptic activity of the Capsicum annuum and Sapindusemarginatus and a polyherbal formulation prepared by the combination of Capsicum annuum, Sapindus emarginatus, Withania somnifera, Hemidesmus indicus (Formepi-4). Study was carried out using albino mice (25 – 30 grams) 8-10 weeks old, of either sex. The animals were divided into five groups containing six animals in each group. The results for maximal electroshock induced seizures, pentylenetetrazole induced seizures and strychnine induced seizures were expressed as Mean ± Standard Error of Mean. Paired Student’s t-test was used to analyze the level of significance. Maximal electroshock induced seizures, Pentelenetetrazole induced seizures and strychnine induced seizures were significantly protected in mice by ethanolic extract of C.annuum, and Methanolic extract of S.emarginatus, with Formepi-4 showing a 100% protection. The alcoholic e xtract of fruits of Capsicum annuum and Sapindus emarginatus and polyherbal formulation (Formepi-4) possesses Anti-Epileptic activity against seizures induced by different mechanisms.