ABSTRACT:
Treatment of epilepsy includes the use of multiple dose regimen for prolonged periods, making the side and adverse effects inevitable to the patients. This can be decreased by reducing the dose of antiepileptic drugs administered or prescribing drugs that can potentiate their antiepileptic effect and decrease the unwanted effects. The potentiating effect of curcumin (10 mg/kg p.o.) on the maximal electro shock [MES] induced Generalized tonic clonic [GTC] seizures was studied against sub therapeutic doses of phenytoin [PHT] (13 mg/kg i.p.) and sodium valproate [VPT] (252 mg/kg p.o.) for 14 days, along with its effect on memory retention in seizure induced rats. Rats were trained for conditioned avoidance response before the initiation of treatment and the effect on memory was studied after the induction of epilepsy using conditioned avoidance response task. A significant increase in the percentage protection was observed with PHT (83.3) and VPT (100), when curcumin was administered with sub therapeutic doses of PHT and VPT. Memory retention was also preserved on combined administration of curcumin with PHT and VPT when compared to PHT and VPT alone. Hence a potentiating effect on sub therapeutic doses of PHT and VPT against GTC seizures, along with significant memory retentive effects can be attributed to curcumin.