POTENTIATION OF PENTOBARBITAL INDUCED HYPNOSIS BY MYRISTICIN IN RATS

Background: Myristicin is a naturally occurring allyl benzene primarily obtained from various plants and spices like nutmeg, fennel, parsley and carrot. Herbs and spices abundant in Myristicin are utilized in traditional medicine to manage conditions like abdominal cramps, diarrhea, rheumatism, anxiety, fever, and halitosis. Nutmeg has been utilized as a mild sedative. Myristicin produces dose-dependent neurological effects. Methods: This experimental study was carried out in the Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. This study examined the hypnotic effects of Myristicin in rats. The method utilized to evaluate the hypnotic effect of Myristicin was pentobarbital-induced sleep potentiation. Two oral dosages of Myristicin, 10 mg/kg as well as 20 mg/kg, were administered, with propylene glycol serving as normal control. Following 60 minutes of oral dosing, pentobarbitone (30 mg/kg) was given intraperitoneally to produce sleep. Sleep latency and duration of sleep were recorded for each rat. Results: The results showed that Myristicin at 10 mg/kg dose can significantly reduce the latency of sleep in comparison to control, while no such difference was noted in the duration of sleep. However, Myristicin at 20 mg/kg dose reduced the latency and increased the duration of sleep significantly in comparison to control. Conclusion: The present study reveals that Myristicin can significantly alter the latency and duration of sleep in pentobarbital induced sleep potentiation test and exhibits significant hypnotic effect.