Centella asiatica attenuates the neurobehavioral, neurochemical and histological changes in transient focal middle cerebral artery occlusion rats

Fakhrul Islam, Rizwana Tabassum, Kumar Vaibhav, Pallavi Shrivastava, Andleeb Khan, Md Ejaz Ahmed, Hayate Javed, Farah Islam, Sayeed Ahmad, M. Saeed Siddiqui, Mohammed M. Safhi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Scopus citations

Abstract

Centella asiatica has been used as psychoactive and antioxidant herbal medicine since ancient time. The present study was design to evaluate the preventive role of ethanolic extract of C. asiatica in middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats. Male Wistar rats were gavaged orally with C. asiatica extract (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg body weight once daily) for 21 days and thereafter subjected to right MCAO for 2 h followed by 22-h reperfusion. Brain injury was evaluated by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride and hematoxylin and eosin staining. Behavioural outcomes as neurological deficit, rota rod test, and grip strength were assessed. In addition, lipid peroxidation, enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidants were analyzed to assess the oxidative stress. Our results revealed that C. asiatica administration greatly improved neurobehavioral activity and diminished infarction volume along with the restored histological morphology of brain in MCAO rats. Furthermore, supplementation with this extract to MCAO group has reduced the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive species, restored glutathione content and augmented the activities of antioxidant enzymes - catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione-S-transferase and superoxide dismutase in a dose-dependent manner in ischemic rats. The remarkable antioxidant activity of C. asiatica may be attributed to its bioactive triterpenes, asiatic acid, asiaticoside, madecassic acid and madecosside and may be translated to clinical level for prevention of ischemic stroke.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)925-933
Number of pages9
JournalNeurological Sciences
Volume34
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2013

Keywords

  • Asiatic acid
  • Centella asiatica
  • Ischemia-reperfusion
  • Neurobehavior
  • Oxidative stress

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Dermatology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Centella asiatica attenuates the neurobehavioral, neurochemical and histological changes in transient focal middle cerebral artery occlusion rats'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this