A STUDY OF NEUROBEHAVIORAL AND BIOCHEMICAL ACTIVITIES OF ACORUS CALAMUS LINN. ON RESTRAINT STRESSED WISTAR RATS

Life span of human, a gradually increase can occur with change in diet and life style which play an important role in delay or even block the progression of age related degenerative problems like dementia, alzheimer’s disease. Exposure to various stress is the emerging greatest challenge to the society recent years. The ill-effect of stress is release of oxidants which is found to be always associated with cognitive decline. The natural plants like Acorus Calamus Linn. (ACL) has been proved to have antioxidant effect and ameliorating behavioral deficits caused due to neurodegenerative by exposure to stress. To investigate the behavioural activity and the biochemical effect of ethanolic extract of Acorus Calamus Linn. (EE-ACL) and the active principle α-asarone (AA) in restraint induced stressed rats. Adult male Wistar rats were divided into five groups six in each. Group I treated with 0.5% of DMSO 1 mL/kg/p.o, Group II treated with 0.5% of DMSO 1 mL/kg/p.o + restraint stress 6 h for 21 days, Group III treated with EE-ACL 100 mg/kg/p.o + restraint stress 6 h for 21 days, Group IV treated with AA 9 mg/kg/p.o + restraint stress 6 h for 21 days, Group V treated with Tinospora cordifolia TC 40 mg/kg/p.o + restraint stress 6 h for 21 days. The behavioural performance, biochemical analyses were done. The anxiety like behaviour was analysed by elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field test (OFT). The spatial learning and memory was assessed using Y-maze and eight arm radial maze (EARM). The Corticosterone level is estimated in all groups. Statistical analysis was done by one-way analysis of variance, followed by post-hoc Tukey’s test for multiple comparison of groups. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results suggest that EE-ACL and the active principle AA has significantly improved cognitive functions in rats subjected to chronic restraint stress. The corticosterone concentration was decreased in rats pre-treated with the plant compound. Improvement in cognition could be due to the antioxidant action of ACL. On comparing with the TC which served as a standard drug the EE-ACL treated rats showed statistically significant result. The ethanolic extract of ACL and the active principal showed neuro-cognitive effect due to the presence of phytoconstituents such as triterpenoids, flavonoid, tannins and saponins. Hence, ACL could be an adjuvant therapy as it plays a role in neuronal stress adaptation mechanism and have potential to prevent progression of neurodegenerative diseases.