Decoctions of Bridelia micrantha and Croton macrostachyus may have anticonvulsant and sedative effects

Bridelia micrantha and Croton macrostachyus are medicinal plants used empirically in traditional medicine to treat epilepsy. In vivo mice model (maximal electroshock, strychnine, pentylenetetrazol, picrotoxin, isonicotinic hydrazide acid)-induced convulsions were used to evaluate the anticonvulsant activities of those plants. Diazepam-induced sleep was used for the evaluation of the sedative properties. B. micrantha protected 100, 80, 80, and 80% of mice against PIC, STR, PTZ and MES-induced seizures, respectively. C. macrostachyus at the doses 34 and 67 mg/kg protected 80, 80, 80 and 60% of mice from PIC, STR, PTZ and MES-induced seizures, respectively. B. micrantha and C. macrostachyus also delayed the onset to seizures in INH test. B. micrantha was more potent than C. macrostachyus in protecting mice against convulsions. The co-administration of the sub effective dose of the decoction of B. micrantha or C. macrostachyus with the sub effective dose of diazepam or clonazepam resulted in a synergistic effect. The decoctions of B. micrantha and C. macrostachyus also exerted sedative activity by increasing the total duration of sleep induced by diazepam and by reducing the latency time to sleep. The effect of the decoctions of B. micrantha and C. macrostachyus suggests the presence of anticonvulsant activities that might show efficacy against secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures and primary generalized seizures in humans.