ABSTRACT
Background: The basal ganglia historically been considered as a part of the motor system because of the varietyof motor deficits that occur when they are damaged. But now it is considered as “extrapyramidal” motor system,and the disorders of basal ganglia are called extrapyramidal disorders. One type of symptoms that result frombasal ganglia disorders is called as Huntington’s Chorea. As this disorder involves with symptoms like dyskinesias- abnormal involuntary movements, we felt it is necessary to protect our nervous system from such a disorder ifpossible in a painless regular fashion by a herb.Materials and Methods: We used adult male Sprague Dawly rats for this study. Animals were divided into 5groups and were given either Withania somnifera extract or the active component Withanolide A in differentconcentrations 10 days prior to lesion surgery and continued 5 days post surgery. The neuroprotective role of thedrug employed was analyzed on the 5th day post lesion by using foot print test in a run way.Result: The gait and balance of the animals were taken as a measure to analyze the protective nature of thestriatum and so the activity of the drug employed here. The gait and balance of the LC animals were poor statingthe unprotective nature of striatum. But the balance and gait of both drug group animals were comparativelybetter than the LC animals. That clearly stated the neuroprotective capacity of both the drugs used for this study.Conclusion: Based on the observations and results we came to a conclusion that both the ethanolic extract andthe active component withanolide A have the capacity in protecting the striatum and so can be used as a foodsupplement on a daily basis to protect our striatum. If needed further research can be conducted to analyze deepinto the therapeutic effects of these herbal drugs.
ABSTRACT
Background: Wormian bones, also known as intra sutural bones are extra bone pieces that occur within a suture in the cranium. These are irregular isolated bones which appear in addition to the usual centers of ossification of the cranium and, although unusual, are not rare. The number of sutural bones varies considerably because different individuals and different population have different numbers of sutural bones. They occur mostly along the sutures and meeting point of the cranial sutures. They occur most frequently in the course of the lambdoid suture. They are also occasionally seen within the sagittal and coronal sutures. Materials and Methods: In this present study we analyzed the occurrence of sutural bones among 50 male and female skulls in Tamil Nadu region and we compared the results along with the studies of Indian skulls. Result and Conclusion: Based on the study we concluded that sutural bones are more among male skulls than in females among the skulls of Tamil Nadu and this is exactly the opposite of the results given in Indian population.
ABSTRACT
Background: Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease named after George Summer Huntington who first described the disorder in 1872. Huntington’s disease is associated with basal ganglia degeneration which is called as the controlling center of extra pyramidal motor system that exerts an inhibitory effect on cerebral motor cortex. This will filters the unwanted motor movements and so refines the motor movements. Degeneration of neurons of basal ganglia reduces the inhibitory output and so leads to Huntington’s disease. At present there is no cure for this disease and trials are going on to treat symptoms, slow the progress of the disease and repairing the damages caused by disease. So there is a necessity to produce an animal model of HD by using a neurotoxin kainic acid for research purpose. By this study we produced a simple and effective rat model of HD which is more mimicking the human model of HD. We also analyzed the role of the extract of a herbal plant Withania somnifera and its active principle withanolide A in preventing the nervous system of HD rat models. Results: The activity of the herbal drug was analyzed by using rotarod apparatus. Both the drug group animals behaved normally in the rotarod against the lesion control animals and proved the efficacy of the drug employed. Conclusion: Present days treatments are mostly given to reduce the progress of HD and to treat the symptoms. Complete curation of HD is not up to the mark. But by taking these herbal drugs by daily basis we can prevent the occurrence of HD as these drugs are very good in neuroprotection.