Abstract

A REVIEW: ANIMAL MODELS FOR SCREENING ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS & IMPORTANT UNANI ANTICONVULSANT DRUGS

Zeba Afrin*, Aisha Siddiqui, M.A. Jafri, Mohd. Asif and Hushan Jahan

Abstract

Epilepsy is the world’s most common serious disorder of the brain according to WHO. It is defined as the occurrence of transient paroxysms of excessive or uncontrolled discharges of neurons due to a number of causes leading to epileptic seizures. The identification of potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of epilepsy requires the use of seizure models. A large number of traditional drugs have been used in epilepsy since centuries. So, screening/investigating these drugs for their anticonvulsant activity to make an effective medicine in the treatment of epilepsy is auspicious. Different types of experimental models have been used to assess the anticonvulsant activity of these drugs such as Maximal electroshock seizure (MES) test, Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) test, kindling animal model, strychnine model etc. These models can be either in vivo or in vitro, mechanism specific, mechanism independent, or seizure specific. The present article explains the types of experimental models used for screening of anticonvulsant activity of traditional drugs and some important scientifically proved Unani anticonvulsant drugs.

Keywords: Epilepsy, anticonvulsant, experimental models, in vivo, in vitro.