Anticonvulsant activity of berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid in mice

Review of the use of botanicals for epilepsy in complementary medical systems — Traditional Chinese Medicine

“…Berberine exhibited anticonvulsant activity via the modulation of neurotransmitter systems. It protected mice against KAinduced clonic convulsions, decreased mortality, and protected against NMDA-induced turning behavior [27]. Moreover, berberine has been reported to exhibit antidepressant-like effects and ameliorate memory dysfunction in experimental animals [28,29].…”

A pharmacological basis of herbal medicines for epilepsy

“…Isoxylitone from D. denudatum exhibited anticonvulsant activity, prevented kindling-induced seizures, and inhibited voltage-dependent Na + currents at submicromolar concentrations [150]. The alkaloid berberine has anticonvulsant effects [151], and was reported to inhibit glutamate release from rat cortical synaptosomes via the suppression of presynaptic P/Q-type Ca 2+ channels and inhibition of extracellular ERK/synapsin I signaling cascade [152]. Berberine was also shown to inhibit KCNQ1 channels [153].…”

Neuronal activities of berberine in Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice

“…Several studies stated that BER produces anxiolytic (through modulation of 5-HTergic system), analgesic and antipsychotic (through modulation of DAergic system), antidepressant (through modulation of 5-HTergic, adrenergic and DAergic). Interestingly, modulators of these neurotransmitters are reported to implicate in anticonvulsant activity (Bhutada et al, 2010;Lee et al, 2010). BER gavage to schistosome infected mice group resulted in a highly significant reduction in E, (Peng et al, 2004).…”

“…Berberine (BER) is a plant alkaloid with a long history of medicinal use in both Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine (Kulkarni and Dhir, 2008;Bhutada et al, 2010). Previous studies have shown that BER has a wide ranging pharmacological and biological activities including anthelmintic (Birdsall and Kelly, 1997), antiinflammatory (Ivanovska and Philipov, 1996), antiamnesic (Peng et al, 1997), anxiolytic (Peng et al, 2004), anti-depressant, analgesic and neuroprotective activities (Bhutada et al, 2010).…”