ANTICONVULSANT EFFECT OF THE HYDROALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF AJWA DATES (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA) IN ANIMAL MODEL

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common serious, life threatening neurological disorder. The current modern antiepileptic drug are associated with side effects, dependency, sedation, chronic toxicity, and teratogenic effects and in approximately 30% of the patients is ineffective. Ajwa dates are used as many traditional/classical medicine for the treatment of different diseases including convulsions and seizures. Methods:In this study, anticonvulsant effects of hydro alcoholic extract of Ajwa date fruit were examined by using pentylentetrazole (PTZ) model in mice. Thirty min. later to saline (10ml/kg), Ajwa date extract (200,400 mg/kg) and diazepam(1mg/kg) treatment, an i.p. dose of PTZ (90 mg/Kg) were given to all animals and each animal were observed for onset time of myoclonic jerks and tonic-clonic seizures, as well as duration of tonic-clonic seizures for 30 min via digital video camera. The animals will be also observed for mortality (% mortality = number of mice dead after convulsion/total number of mice used × 100). Results:Ajwa dates extract at the doses of 200,400 mg/kg prolonged the time of onset of seizure and decreased the duration of seizures compared to control (saline) group. Conclusions:It seems that Ajwa date have anticonvulsant effect and could be useful for the control and treatment of seizures. And in these effects, opioid receptors might probably be involved. More studies are needed in order to investigate its exact mechanism. Keywords: Ajwa dates, Seizure, Hydroalcoholic extract