Acta Biomedica Scientia

INFLUENCE OF TABERNAE CORYMBOSA ROOT EXTRACT ON CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM MEDIATED MUSCLE COORDINATION IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL

Sridhar VR, Jayakumar P, Arun Seetharaman, Jaikumar S*

sengt@rediffmail.com

Tabernae corymbosa, Actophotometer, Rotarod, Diazepam, Motor coordination.

The aim of present study is to evaluate the effect of ethanolic root extract of Tabernae corymbosa on Central Nervous System mediated motor coordination in mice. The ethanolic root extract was prepared and subjected to phytochemical evaluation which shows the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloid, phenols, saponins, sterols and tannins. To evaluate the motor coordination locomotor action, muscle relaxation and sedative activities were studied using Actophotometer, Rota-rod and phenobarbitone induced sleeping time models in mice. The animals were divided in to 3 groups of 6 animals each. Diazepam (4mg/kg) was used as reference control for locomotor and muscle relaxation study, chlorpromazine (5mg/kg) was used in phenobarbitone induced sleeping time. 250mg/kg of ethanolic root extract of Tabernae corymbosa was used in all the studies. All the test drugs were administered by suspending in 0.1% Carboxy Methyl Cellulose solution. In locomotor motor activity, the ethanolic root extract of Tabernae corymbosa significantly (P<0.001) decreased the score to 94.58±5.52 and the percentage decrease in the locomotor activity of Tabernae corymbosa was 58.21%. In muscle relaxant study, the ethanolic root extract of Tabernae corymbosa significantly (P<0.001) decreased the time to 34.55±2.86 seconds. In phenobarbitone induced sleeping time, the ethanolic root extract of Tabernae corymbosa significantly (P<0.05) increased the phenobarbitone induced sleeping time (49.72±2.25 minutes) when compared to control groups. From the results, it was concluded that, the ethanolic root extract of Tabernae corymbosa exhibits decrease in locomotor activity, muscle relaxant activity and sedative property.