Abstract

Leucas martinicensis is a medicinal plant used in traditional medicine to treat convulsions and epilepsy. The present study was to evaluate the anticonvulsant and sedative effects of the aqueous leave extract of L. martinicensis in Wistar rats. The anticonvulsant activities of L. martinicensis (50, 100, 200 or 400 mg/kg i.p.) were evaluated using maximal electroshock seizure (MES) - and strychnine (STR) -induced seizure models while the sedative properties were evaluated using the diazepam-induced sleep model in Wistar rats. The 400 mg/kg of the extract protected rats (100%) against seizures in both models while at 200 mg/kg seizure protection (100%) was only in STR model. There was a significant (p

Key words: Leucas martinicensis; Epilepsy; Traditional medicine; Anticonvulsant; sleep