Anirban Sukul
Sukul Institute of Homeopathic Research, India
Title: Reduction of alcohol induced sleep time in albino mice using potentized Nux vomica prepared with 90% ethanol
Biography
Biography: Anirban Sukul
Abstract
Male adult albino mice were administered potentized Nux vomica 30C (Nux). The drug was mixed with distilled water at 0.05 ml/2 ml water and given at 0.05 ml. Control is blank ethanol solution. Ethanolic extract from the seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica was mixed with 90% ethanol 1:100 and sonicated for 30s at 20 KHz and further diluted and sonicated in 30 steps to produce Nux 30C. Six hours after treatment, mice were given 25% ethanol i.p. at 4 g/kg body weight. The duration of sleep time starting from the loss of righting reflex until its restoration was recorded. Sleep time duration with ethanol was recorded in four sessions for same group of mice with an interval of 10 days between sessions. Treatments: Session-1: Control solution, 2: Nux (oral), and 3: Nux (i.p.). Nux (oral) produced shortest sleep time as compared to other treatments which did not differ from each other significantly with respect to sleep time. In another experiment Nux 30C was prepared with distilled water and pure absolute ethanol by the above process of successive dilution and sonication. These two preparations together with Nux 30C, prepared with 90% ethanol, were tested on mice for their effect on alcohol-induced sleep time. Only Nux 30C prepared with 90% ethanol was effective in reducing the sleep time in mice. It is concluded that the solution structure of ethanol/water mixture carries the specificity of the Nux at ultra-high dilution. It is further concluded that the effect is mediated through oral receptors.