Chemical Composition and Antiepileptic Activity of Ethanolic Stem Extract of Cucurbita moschata on Experimental Models

Cucurbita moschata is one of the angiosperms belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. Because of the nutritional and health protective value of the components present in it, it has attracted a lot of attentions in recent years. The present study was aimed to investigate the chemical composition and understand the anti-epileptic activity of ethanolic stem extract of C. moschata. The chemical composition of ethanolic extract of C. moschata were investigated by GCMS analysis. The screening of antiepileptic activity was done with ‘maximal electro shock’ (MES) and lithium pilocarpine induced models on rats and ‘pentylene tetrazole’(PTZ) model on mice. The GCMS analysis of ethanolic stem extract of C. moschata revealed presence of pentacyclic triterpenoids and fatty acid esters. The epileptic seizure were induced in rats and mice of either sex and then challenged animals treated with ethanolic stem extract of C. moschata at three doses 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg and compared with the standard antiepileptic drugs such as penytoin (40 mg/kg) and valproic acid (200 mg/kg) and diazepam (10 mg/kg) treated animals. The ethanolic stem extract of the plant exhibited significant reduction in MES induced epileptic seizure. However the ethanolic extract of C. moschata did not increase the onset of epileptic seizure in PTZ induced epileptic model on mice and did not reduce the severity of convulsions in lithium pilocarpine induced status epilepticus model indicating that the extract is active against Grand mal epilepsy and inactive against petit mal epilepsy. From the result it may be concluded that the extract is active against grand mal epilepsy and inactive against petit mal epilepsy. The antiepileptic activity may be attributed to pentacyclic triterpenoid, vitamin and fatty acid esters.