STUDY OF ANTITUSSIVE POTENTIAL OF GLYCYRRHIZA GLABRA AND ADHATODA VASICA USING A COUGH MODEL INDUCED BY SULPHUR DIOXIDE GAS IN MICE

Cough is the most common symptom of respiratory diseases. When cough becomes serious, opioids are effective, but they have side effects like sedation, constipation. Therefore, there is a need to have effective antitussive agent which do not have respiratory depressant activity. The present study was carried out to evaluate antitussive activity of Glycyrrhiza glabra and Adhatoda vasica using a cough model induced by sulphur dioxide gas in mice. The effect of the ethanol extracts of Glycyrrhiza  glabra and Adhatoda vasica on SO₂ gas induced cough in experimental animals have very significant effects at the level of p<0.01 in inhibiting the cough reflex  at a dose of 800 mg/kg  and 200 mg/kg body wt. p.o., in comparison with the control group. Mice showed an inhibition of 35.62%, in cough on treatment with Glycyrrhiza glabra and 43.02% inhibitionon treatment withAdhatoda vasica within 60 min of the experiment. The antitussive activity of the extract was comparable to that of codeine sulphate (10, 15, 20 mg/kg body wt.), a standard anti-tussive agent. Codeine sulphate, as a standard drug for suppression of cough, produced 24.80%, 32.98%, and 45.73% inhibition in cough at a dose of 10 mg/kg, 15 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg respectively, whereas, codeine sulphate (20 mg/kg) showed maximum 45.73% (p<0.001) inhibition at 60 min of the experiment.