Neuropharmacological profile of somina (a poly herbal unani formulation) in rats and mice

Abstract

A number of drugs both single and compound preparations are used widely in the traditional system of medicine or Tibb-e-unani (Unani medicine) in the management of mental diseases but these drug mostly, have not been investigated for their acclaimed effect. Somina is one of such poly herbal preparation containing five ingredients mainly described to be sedative, hypnotic and anxiolytic. In the present study pharmacological properties of somina were investigated in rats and mice, using standard behavioral paradigms. The results of our study show that somina exhibited anxiolytic, sedative and hypnotic effect as shown in elevated plus maze test in rats and exploratory rearing test in mice, open field test and pentobarbital-induced sleeping time in rats. These finding validates its traditional uses and rationalized the clinical prescription and potential benefit of the somina as a sedative, hypnotic and anxiolytic drug.

Keywords: somina, sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic, exploratory rearing, dopamine

Nigerian Journal of Natural Products and Medicine Vol. 9 2005: 48-52