NEW DELHI: Indian scientists testing traditional ayurvedic drugs to improve memory and learning say grandmother’s remedies for students preparing for examinations may stand vindicated.
Preliminary trials in rats fed with extracts of two plants widely recommended in Ayurveda for better memory retention and learning have given encouraging results says Prof Sukh Dev who is conducting the research at the chemistry department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi.
The memory-promoting drugs are expected to be specially useful to students and elderly persons he told PTI.
“This is an area where not many allopathic medicines are known while several plants are listed in ayurvedic literature for promoting memory and intelligence Prof Sukh Dev winner of the prestigious Indian national science academy award in 1988 says.
His studies on the potential of ayurvedic drugs in modern medicine which span almost two decades earlier led to discovery of the ayurvedic medicine “guggul” widely marketed in India for treating obesity lipid disorders and rheumatoid arthritis.
Collaborating with the central drug research institute (CDRI) Lucknow Prof Sukh Dev’s team selected three plants often mentioned in ayurvedic texts Brahmi (Bacopa Monnieri) Mandukparni (centella asiatica) and Shankhpushpi (conyolvulus pruricaulis) all found commonly in India.
The team prepared extracts of two plants -Mandukparni and Shankhpushpi -and sent them to CDRI for testing ‘
The tests were conducted on — rats which were let loose in a maze of pathways with one set of routes — being electrically charged to give a shock and another set of safe routes.
The scientists observed whether rats fed with the plants extracts” could remember better which routes were safe and which were dangerous. Observations revealed that certain lipid fractions of the extracts have statistically significant memory-promoting activity.
They are now trying to isolate the active compounds responsible for promoting memory so that they could be tested for any toxic effects and later tried in humans. The whole process may take a couple of years. Prof Sukh Dev said
Article extracted from this publication >> March 15, 1991
