Effect of intracerebroventricular injection of aqueous extract and essential oil of Pulicaria gnaphalodes on PTZ-induced seizures in male rat

Introduction: Pulicaria gnaphalodes contains terpenoids and flavonoids. Referring to the role of benzodiazepine (BZD) receptor ligands as drug candidates in the treatment of epilepsy, anxiety and sleep disturbances, and since natural flavonoids are among these candidates and hold promise as BZD receptor ligands, this research was done to assess the effects of aqueous extract and essential oil of Pulicaria gnaphalodes on seizures induced by pentylenetetrazol (PTZ). Methods: In this research, male Wistar rats (200±20 g) were injected intracerebroventrically by vehicle, aqueous extract (125, 250 and 500 μg) or essential oil (0.125%, 0.25% and 0.5%) (1 μL volume in each), before intraperitoneal administration of PTZ (80 mg/kg) for induction of seizure. Then, onset times of myoclonic (stages 1, 2 and 3) and tonicclonic (stages 4 and 5) seizures were recorded during 20 minutes after PTZ administration. Data were analyzed by oneway analysis of variance. Results: The results of this study showed that aqueous extract and essential oil of Pulicaria gnaphalodes increase initiation time of PTZ-induced myoclonic and tonic-clonic seizures. Conclusion: Aqueous extract and essential oil of Pulicaria gnaphalodes probably have dose-dependent anticonvulsant property.