Evaluation of the anticonvulsant activity of the essential oil of Myrothamnus moschatus in convulsion induced by pentylenetetrazole and picrotoxin

Objective To evaluate the anticonvulsant effect of the essential oil of Myrothamnus moschatus ( M. moschatus ) in convulsion induced by pentylenetetrazole and picrotoxin in rodent models. Methods The essential oil of the aerial parts of M. moschatus was extracted by steam distillation. Thereafter, it was injected subcutaneously to rats and mice at escalating doses (0.1–0.8 mL/kg). Ten minutes after drug injection, pentylenetetrazole was injected intraperitoneally to rats and picrotoxin was administered to mice by the same route. Diazepam served as the positive control. Every single animal was placed into transparent cage and observed for convulsive behavior for 30 min by using ordinary security cameras connected to a video recorder. Death occurring for a period of 24 h was also recorded. Results The essential oil at 0.8 mL/kg completely arrested the pentylenetetrazole-induced convulsion without any sedative effect and delayed its appearance at lower doses, but showed moderate activities on picrotoxin-induced convulsion. For the rats treated with pentylenetetrazole alone, the mortality was 100% within 1 h, but for the rats pre-treated with the essential oil, the mortality was 0%. For the mice treated with picrotoxin, the mortality rate was also 100%, while 20%–100% died in those that had been pre-treated with the oil. Conclusions The results confirmed at least partly the traditional uses of the smoke of M. moschatus for the management of convulsion, and implied that the essential oil may inhibit the convulsion by GABAergic neuromodulation .