Other ingredients for the formulations were collected from a local Ayurvedic vendor and identified by Ayurvedic practitioner. Both the formulations Brahmi Ghrita (BG) and Saraswatarishta (SW) were prepared

and standardized in accordance with Ayurvedic Formulary of India. 15 and 16 Phenytoin and Tetramethoxypropane (TMP) was procured from Sigma Aldrich Co., St. Louis, USA used MG-132 in vitro as positive control and standard respectively. All the other chemicals used for biochemical estimation like Potassium chloride (KCl), Thiobarbituric acid (TBA), Trichloroacetic acid (TCA), Hydrochloric acid (HCl) and Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) were of analytical grade, obtained from Qualigen fine chemicals Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai. Wistar (Albino) rats of either selleckchem sex (140–200 g) were procured from National Toxicology Center, Pune. The animals were allowed to acclimatize

for eight days. Housed and maintained in standard laboratory conditions fed with standard rat pellet diet and water ad libitum. The experiment was conducted with prior permission of Institutional Animal Ethical Committee (IAEC Ref. No. 884/ac/05/CPCSEA) and according to the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision on Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) guidelines. Animals were divided into four groups (n = 6); Group I served as control group and received only water and feed ad libitum, Group II received standard drug Phenytoin (25 mg/kg IP), Group III and Group IV received Brahmi Ghrita (BG) (0.9 ml/kg) and Saraswatarishta (SW) (0.9 ml/kg) orally for eight days respectively, at a fixed time in the morning. The dose was decided according to the therapeutic human dose of the formulations extrapolated to animals. 17 MES seizures until were induced by Electro-convulsometer (Medicraft Electro Medicals P. Ltd.) as described by Swinyard18 (1985). Exactly 1 h after the drug administration, maximal electroshock seizures

were elicited by the application of electric shock (60 Hz AC, 150 mA) for 0.2 s (s) using corneal electrodes. This current intensity brought forth complete tonic extension of hind limbs in control rats. For recording various parameters, rats were placed on a clean tile, permitting full view of the animal motor responses to seizure. Duration of various phases of epileptic attacks like jerking, grooming, tail straub, extension of hind limb and recovery were observed, recorded and compared with the control and phenytoin group. Animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and brain tissues were isolated immediately, washed with ice cold Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS) and stored at −80 °C until further use. Estimation of lipid peroxidation in brain tissue was measured by using the method of Ohkawa et al 1979.19 Brain homogenate was prepared in PBS (10%) and One ml of 0.15 M KCl was added to 0.5 ml of homogenate. It was incubated for 30 min at 37 °C (degree centigrade) and the reaction mixture was treated with 2 ml of TBA- TCA-HCl reagent, 0.