Anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and in-vitro antioxidant activities of hydroethanol leaf extract of costusafer Ker Gawl (Costaceae) in mice

Abstract

Treatments for most central nervous system (CNS) disorders are not devoid of untoward effects. Recently, attention is mainly devoted to indigenous plants which are potential sources of new drugs with better efficacy and safety profile relative to conventional agents. Costusafer Ker Gawl (Costaceae) is a plant used in Traditional African Medicine (TAM) for the treatment of a variety of ailments, including epilepsy. This study investigated the anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and in-vitro antioxidant activities of hydroethanol leaf extract of Costusafer in mice. The strychnine-and picrotoxin-induced convulsion (SIC and PIC) tests were used to investigate antiepileptic activity while muscle relaxant activity was evaluated using the traction and inclined screen tests. Distilled water (10 mL/kg), diazepam (3 mg/kg) and C. afer (25-200 mg/kg) were administered 1 h before the induction of convulsion. Animals were thereafter observed for the onset and duration of convulsion. Another set of mice were subjected to the muscle relaxant tests 1 h post-treatments and the reaction time of each mouse were subsequently observed. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation and reducing power assays were used to investigate the in-vitro antioxidant activity. In the PIC test, C. afer at 50 mg/kg significantly increased the seizure latency (p<0.05) and decreased seizure duration (p<0.001). There was significant dose-dependent decrease in the post-treatment sliding latency (25-200 mg/kg) in the inclined screen test (p<0.01). C. afer elicited dose-dependent radical scavenging actions in the in-vitro antioxidant activity assays. Findings suggest that C. afer possess anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and in-vitro antioxidant properties.