Journal of Traditional Medicine & Clinical Naturopathy
Open Access

Abstract

Thai traditional antinausea remedy is drug registered in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) for the treatment of blood circulation disorders, dizziness, fatigue and insomnia. Antinausea remedies have long been used, but their effects and action mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the hypnotic with mechanistic study and its anxiolytic capabilities. Healthy adult male Swiss albino mice were used for the study. Thiopental sodium-induced sleeping time with GABAergic activity was evaluated. The latent period and sleeping time of aqueous extract groups were recorded and compared to the control group and pretreated GABA antagonistic blocker group by observing the righting reflex. Aqueous extracts at doses of 10, 50 and 100 mg/kg significantly augmented the latent time between waking and onset of sleep. Sleeping times of mice were also prolonged at the same dose with latent phase. In addition, extract at a dosage of 100 mg/kg pretreated with flumazenil reduced latent time compared to negative control and also shortened sleeping times (P<0.05). In addition, anti-anxiety was also investigated using evaluated plus maze test, aqueous extract at 10 mg/kg marginally decreased the time rodents spent in the closed arms, whereas 50 and 100 mg/kg greatly increased the time rodents spent in the open arms of the plus maze (P<0.05). It is concluded that the aqueous extract has potential as a hypnotic and anti-anxiety effect. Our findings can be used to ensure that proper precautions and drug correctly used. Further studies are required to determine the pharmacodynamics of Thai traditional antinausea remedy and analyze its chemical metabolism to discover drug absorption and elimination.

Biography

Watchara Damjuti has completed his PhD from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He is currently working as the Lecturer at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Thailand.

E-mail: watchara_d@rmutt.ac.th