• 셀메드
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.6.1-6.10
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• 2015

Fumaria indica Linn. (Syn: Fumaria parviflora, Fumariaceae) is a wildly grown weed, mentioned and recommended in classical Ayurvedic texts for treatments of variety of ailments including dermatological diseases, topical diseases, cardiovascular complaints, circulatory disease, fever and headache etc. The present pilot study was designed to experimentally verify the possibility that fumarates are the major bioactive principles of Fumaria indica extracts involved in their stress response modulating activities, and to estimate pharmacologicallyactive dose ranges of fumarates and standardized methanolic extract of Fumaria indica (MFI). Effect of single, 5 and 10 daily oral doses of pure fumaric acid (FA), monomethyl fumarate (MMF), dimethyl fumarate (DMF) and MFI was quantified in well validated rodent models viz. apomorphine induced cage climbing, stress induced hyperthermia, and elevated plus-maze tests. Obtained results reveal high efficacy of MFI and pure fumarates possess qualitatively analogous activity profiles in all the three tests. There were no significant difference in the potencies of pure FA, MMF and DMF in the three tests, whereas efficacy of MFI in the elevated plus maze test for anxiolytics was higher than in the other two tests. Efficacies of all the four test agents in all the three tests increased with increasing number of days of oral treatments. Results of these pilot experiments should be helpful for more rational selections of pharmacologically interesting dose ranges and treatment regimens of fumarates and Fumaria indica extracts for further more holistic explorations of their diverse therapeutic potentials.