• Corpus ID: 81089830

Scientific Evaluation of Brahma Rasayana as a Cognitive Enhancer in D-Galactose Induced Cognitive Impairment in Mice

@inproceedings{Sathiyaseelan2016ScientificEO,
  title={Scientific Evaluation of Brahma Rasayana as a Cognitive Enhancer in D-Galactose Induced Cognitive Impairment in Mice},
  author={Kasi Sathiyaseelan},
  year={2016}
}

• K. Sathiyaseelan
• Published 1 April 2016
• Biology

INTRODUCTION:Cognition refers to thinking skills and the intellectual skills that allow a person to perceive, acquire, understand and respond to information. This includes the abilities to pay attention, remember and process information, solve problems, organize and reorganize information, communicate and act upon information.1
The disorders that affect cognition include neurodegenerative disorders, vascular diseases, trauma, toxin, anoxia and infectious processes. Cognitive impairments are deficits in the processes by which persons perceive, encode, store, retrieve and use information. Many processes can lead to cognitive impairment. Neurodegenerative disorders that can affect cognitive ability include Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Pick’s disease, Parkinson’s disease (PD), Lewy body disease, Huntington’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and cerebellar degeneration. Common vascular disorders that affect cognition include stroke, multiple strokes and cerebral embolic disease. Toxic agents that affect cerebral function (cognition) include carbon monoxide poisoning, adverse drug events and interactions and prolonged exposure to specific toxic chemicals or gases. Electrolyte abnormalities, organ failure and anoxia can also cause cognitive impairments.AIM AND OBJECTIVE:Brahma Rasayana is an Ayurvedic formulation, which contains several herbal constituents and is marketed for the treatment of drowsiness, fatigue, mental weakness, progeriasis, aging and disturbed memory.38
Literature review indicates that no specific study has been carried out to evaluate the cognition enhancement property of Brahma Rasayana. Some of the ingredients used in Brahma Rasayana have been tested for their cognition enhancing property.20-23 One of the commonly used models to evaluate cognitive impairment is D-Galactose model.
The aim of this study is
1. Evaluation of in vivo cognition enhancing potential of Brahma Rasayana using D-Galactose induced memory impaired mice.
2. To elucidate the effect of Brahma Rasayana on various neurotransmitters associated with cognitive impairment. SUMMARY:Cognitive impairment is a classic sign of various conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Pick’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body disease, Huntington’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and cerebellar degeneration. In market there are a few drugs available for the improvement of cognition. There are several Ayurvedic formulations which are being marketed for this condition. Brahma Rasayana is one such formulation with the memory boosting capacity.
This study was undertaken to scientifically validate the claim of BR as a cognitive enhancer. The model used for the study was the D-Galactose which is one of the commonly used models for cognition impairment.
Donepezil was used as a standard drug for comparison. The models used to test cognition were Morris water maze and Y-maze test for evaluating spatial memory, Actophotometer and open field tests were used for evaluation of locomotor activity. On all these studies it was seen that BR, especially at the higher dose (i.e 2g/kg p.o), was able to reverse the cognitive impairment induced by D-Galactose. This activity was almost the same as that of Donepezil.
In order to establish the mechanism of action, the brain levels of acetylcholinesterase (Ach being one of the important neurotransmitters in cognition) and neurotransmitters like Serotonin, Dopamine, Adrenaline, Nor-adrenaline and Glutamate were estimated. Brahma Rasayana at the higher dose (i.e 2g/kg p.o), showed a good anti-cholinesterase activity. The levels of other neurotransmitters like Serotonin, Dopamine, Adrenaline, Nor-adrenaline were increased markedly as compared to the disease group animals. The level of Glutamate was decreased in Donepezil and BR treated group as compared to disease group of animals, which indicates that the excitotoxicity of glutamate was reduced by the both standard and BR. CONCLUSION:From the study it is concluded that Brahma Rasayana, which is marketed with claims for use in the treatment of drowsiness, fatigue, mental weakness, senility/ progeriasis, aging and disturbed memory, has cognition enhancing property at a higher dose of 2g/kg and this action is mediated mainly by the Anticholinesterase activity. It has also shown an improvement in the levels of neurotransmitters like Serotonin, Dopamine, Adrenaline, Nor-adrenaline and Glutamate, which are altered in cognition impairment induced by D-Galactose. This study validates the Ayurvedic claim of Brahma Rasayana as a memory enhancer.
This claim can be further strengthened by carrying out a systematic clinical study using Brahma Rasayana in cognition impaired patients.