Pharmacological assessments of polyphenolic extract of Cymbopogon citratus leaves in rodent model of parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is amongst the most common age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Natural compounds, especially the polyphenols have gained great interest as potential therapeutic agents in recent research. Thus, the present study was designed to evaluate the effect of polyphenolic extract of Cymbopogon citratus (C. Citratus) leaves in animal models of PD. In the given study PD was induced by administration of reserpine (5 mg/kg/day, i.p for 5 consecutive days), haloperidol (1 mg/kg, i.p.), in experimental animals. The symptoms of PD such as tremors, akinesia, rigidity and catalepsy were evaluated. Ethanolic extract of Cymbopogon citratus (CC) in doses of 100, 200 & 400mg/kg were administered per oral (PO). The L-dopa and carbidopa (30 mg/kg, PO) combination was used as a positive standard drug.  Behavioural studies such as locomotor activity were performed. In catalepsy model, there is significant reduction in catalepsy duration in CC (100, 200, 400mg/kg) treated group as compared to the haloperidol group. In reserpine model, there is significant decrease of muscular rigidity, tremors, and akinesia in groups treated with CC (100, 200, 400mg/kg) dose dependently. Thus, the present study suggests the beneficial role of C. citratus leaves polyphenolic extract in treatment of parkinsonian like symptoms.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; catalepsy test; haloperidol; reserpine, rotarod test, polyphenols, Cymbopogon citratus