review

The paper deals with the review on the nutraceutical details of the rhizome of the plant Nelumbo having two species worldwide from which N. lutea is confined to North America and Canada to an altitudinal range beyond 2400 m a.s.l. whereas the other species N. nucifera is distributed throughout the World in the tropical parts up to 1400 m a.s.l. having good nutritional and medicinal properties. The rhizome is considered to be used for the sake of presence of starch, minerals and vitamins particularly vitamin B6, helpful in the mental and physical growth amongst fetus. Very little is known on the traditional use of rhizome of N. lutea and its chemical and pharmacological attributes as well as its toxicity needs to be studied in detail as it is not available before inclusion in nutritional diet especially for diabetic and cardiac patients as well as women bearing fetus.

Anticonvulsants are a diverse group of pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. The goal of an anticonvulsant is to suppress the rapid and excessive firing of neurons that start a seizure. The use of current antiepileptic drugs has been questioned due to the non selectivity of the drugs and the undesirable side effects posed by them. This lead to the search for antiepileptic compounds with more selective activity and lower toxicity continues to be an area of investigation in medicinal chemistry. Semicarbazones are compounds which are synthesized by the condensation of semicarbazide and aldehydes/ketones. The literature survey revealed that semicarbazones had been emerged as a compound with broad range of activities including anticonvulsant, antitubercular, anticancer and antimicrobial activity. In this review chemistry and anticonvulsant activity of semicarbazone analogues are discussed.