ABSTRACT
Background: The non-medical self-administration of memory enhancing drugs is a common practice. Present study was designed to evaluate interactions of two such herbal drugs Memory Plus (MP) and Mentat, with other central nervous system (CNS) active drugs. Methods: Two activities - pentobarbitone sleeping time (PST) and maximal electroshock seizures (MES) were performed using adult albino mice weighing 25-30 g to observe the interactions of the herbal drugs with diazepam and phenytoin sodium, respectively. For each activity, animals were divided into seven groups of six mice each. Group I was a control group receiving 0.2 ml of 1% Tween 80 i.p/0.2 ml saline p.o, Group II, III and IV acute treatment groups; received single dose of herbal (2 mg/kg i.p MP or 200 mg/kg p.o Mentat) CNS-active drugs alone in subeffective doses group II - diazepam 5 mg/kg i.p, Group III PS 15 mg/kg i.p and Group IV - MP/Mentat+diazepam or PS, respectively. Groups V, VI, and VII were subchronic treatment groups, received drugs once daily for 8 days same as acute treatment groups. Sleeping time was measured as the interval between the loss and recovery of righting refl ex and anticonvulsant activity by giving supra maximal shock via ear electrodes using a techno electro convulsiometer. Results: Both MP and Mentat showed potentiation of effect of diazepam and PS in subchronic treatment groups by signifi cantly prolonging PST (p<0.05) and by showing signifi cant percentage protection in MES method (p<0.05) compared to control group. Conclusion: Subchronic administration of MP and Mentat shows significant interaction with diazepam and PS. Further human studies are warranted to confi rm these fi ndings.