Anticonvulsant Effects of Pasipay (Prepared from Passion Flower) by PTZ Model in the Mice

Passion flower has shown antianxeity and sedative effects in human. In this study, anticonvulsant effects of hydroalcoholic extract of passiflora were studied. Anticonvulsant effects of Pasipay were examined by using pentylenetetrazole model (PTZ) on mice. In this research pasipay, diazepam, and normal saline were injected i.p. at doses (0.05-0.4 mg/kg), (0.5-1 mg/kg), (10 ml/kg) respectively and after 30 minutes, PTZ (90 mg/kg, i.p) was injected to these mice. For investigating the mechanism of pasipay, flumazenil (2 mg/kg, i.p) and naloxone (5 mg/kg, i.p) were also injected 5 minutes before pasipay. An ED50 value of pasipay was 0.2 mg/kg (%95 CL: 0.119, 0.408). In this model, pasipay at the dose of 0.4 mg/kg prolonged the onset time of seizure and decreased the duration of seizures compared to control (p<0.001). In this dose the seizure and mortality protection was 100%. Flumazenil and naloxone could suppress anticonvulsant effects of pasipay. It seems that pasipay may be useful for treatment of absence seizure and these effects may be related to the effect of it on GABAergic and opioid systems.