Acute treatment with the chloroform fraction of Dioclea virgata (Rich.) Amshoff (CFDv) in mice produced decreased ambulation and sedation in the behavioral pharmacological screening. Doses of 125 and 250 mg/kg CFDv decreased latency of sleep onset in the test of sleeping time potentiation. In the open field, animals treated with CFDv reduced ambulation and rearing (250 mg/kg), as well as defeca...

1 Department of Physiology, Father Muller’s Medical College, Kankanady, 2 Department of Bioscience, Mangalore University, Karnataka. Address for Correspondences Ltha Rajendra Kumar, Present address: Faculty of Medicine, Asian Institute of Medical Science and Technology, Semeling, Kedah, Malaysia. email: [email protected] ABSTRACT Alcohol abuse is a known social problem world wide. Reacti...

Dimethylformamide (DMF) is widely used as a drug solvent. We found DMF to have wide-spread pharmacological effects including depressant effect on CNS evidenced by a decrease in locomotor activity, body and limb tone and rectal temperature, and potentiation of pentobarbitone sleep. A dose-dependent hypotensive effect was seen in cats and rats. In rats, it was partially blocked by atropine and wa...

Adenosine is a CNS depressant with both pre- and postsynaptic actions. Presynaptically, adenosine decreases neurotransmitter release in the hippocampus but only at excitatory terminals. In the thalamus, however, we show that, in addition to its actions at excitatory synapses, adenosine strongly suppresses monosynaptic inhibitory currents both in relay cells of the thalamic ventrobasal complex (...

The exact mechanism by which ethanol exerts its effects on the brain is still unknown. However, nowadays it is well known that ethanol interacts with specific neuronal membrane proteins involved in signal transmission, resulting in changes in neural activity. In this review different neurochemical alterations produced by ethanol are described. Primarily, ethanol interacts with two membrane rece...

This review describes the morphology, microscopy, traditional and folklore uses, phyto-constituents, pharmacological reports, clinical applications and toxicological reports of the prominent species of the genus Passiflora. Flavonoids, glycosides, alkaloids, phenolic compounds and volatile constituents have been reported as the major phyto-constituents of the Passiflora species. A few species o...

OBJECTIVE To describe tardive rebound anxiety phenomena (panic, anxiety and insomnia) following abrupt paroxetine discontinuation. METHOD Case report, with comprehensive literature review on rebound and withdrawal phenomena associated with psychotropic medications. RESULTS Three different discontinuation syndromes with psychotropics are described: (1) new-onset CNS-depressant type withdrawa...

The cytochrome P450 protective activity of Sapindus mukorossi and Rheum emodi were evaluated against CCl4 induced prolongation of pentobarbitone sleep time in Wister rats. The fractions, at a dose of 0.2 g/kg,0.4g/kg p.o., Sapindus mukorossi, Rheum emodi significantly prevents the CCl4 induced prolongation of pentobarbitone sleep time (P<0.01), indicating the cytochrome P450 protection activity...

Vettumaran Gutika produced moderate CNS depressant effect, prolonged pentobarbitone and diazepam induced sleep, produced initial depression followed by stimulation of SMA in mice. It did not effect SCR and CAR in rats, reserpine effects in mice and threshold of tail-flick response in rats. It failed to protect rats and mice aginst Electro, pentylenetetrazol and strychnine induced convulsions an...