Neuropharmacological profile of Barleria lupulina Lindl. Extract in animal models.

Barleria lupulina Lindl. is a popular medicinal plant distributed in mountains of southern and western India. In the present work, the effect of methanolic extract of aerial parts of B. lupulina on CNS activity has been evaluated. The CNS activity was tested in several experimental models, in mice and rats: general behavior, exploratory behavior, muscle relaxant activity, conditioned avoidance response and phenobarbitone sodium-induced sleeping time tests. The aerial parts of the plant B. lupulina was extracted with methanol and the solvent was removed by vacuum distillation. The methanol extract (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg) showed reduction in general behavioral pattern (spontaneous activity, alertness, awareness, pain response and touch response) in a dose dependent manner. The extract was found to produce a significant reduction of the exploratory behavioral profile (Y-maze test, head dip test) and conditioned avoidance response with all the tested doses. The methanolic extract showed significant motor incoordination and muscle relaxant activity. The extract also potentiated phenobarbitone sodium induced sleeping time. Preliminary investigation showed that the methanol extract of B. lupulina has significant psychopharmacological activity.