Role of Traditional Medicine in Neuropsychopharmacology

Memory is the ability of an individual to record the information and recall it whenever needed. Dementia is a mental disorder characterized by loss of intellectual ability (judgment or abstract thinking) which invariably involves impairment of memory. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimers disease (AD), which is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with loss of neurons in distinct brain areas and cord. Stressful conditions are often associated with loss of memory and cognitive functions which may lead to threats of schizophrenia and AD. Traditionally herbal drugs have been used to enhance cognitive functions and to alleviate other functions associate with the AD. A number of medicinal plants per se and medicines derived from these plants have shown memory enhancing properties by virtue of their medicinal constituents. One of the mechanisms suggested to dementia is decreased cholinergic activity in brain. Therefore cholinergic drugs (of plant origin) like: muscarinic agonists (e.g. arecoline, pilocarpine etc.), nicotinic agonists (e.g. nicotine) and cholinesterase inhibitors (e.g. huperzine) can be employed for improving memory. Some other classes of drugs used in dementia are: stimulants or nootropics (e.g. piracetam, amphetamine), putative cerebral vasodilators (e.g. ergot alkaloids, papavarine), calcium channel blocker (e.g. nimodipine). Since allopathic system of medicine provides radical cure so more concentration is provided on natural products to cure dementia, and some excellent results with certain plants justified their use as memory enhancer. Traditional System of medicine already mentioned some plants while recent screening is also going on different plants. Examples of some plants showing promising activity in neuropsychopharmacology are: Allium sativum, Bacopa monnierae, Centella asiatica, Celastrus paniculatus, Nicotiana tabaccum, Withania somnifera, Ricinus communis, Salvia officinalis, Ginkgo biloba, Huperiza serrata, Angelica sinensis, Korean ginseng, Uncaria tomentosa, Hypericum perforatum, Physostigma venosum, Acorus calmus, Curcuma longa, Terminalia chebula, Crocus sativus, Enhydra fluctuans, Vitex negandu, Valeriana wallichii, Glycyrrhiza glabra etc. Rapid industrialization has resulted into various neurons disorder in human which has forced us to look back for cure at our old age system of medicine that is Ayurveda.