Plants and Plant Products with Potential Anticonvulsant Activity – A Review

Epilepsy is a chronic and often progressive disorder characterized by the occurrence of epileptic seizures, affecting about 50 million people worldwide. The prescribed synthetic drugs for the treatment of epilepsy are associated with severe side effects and addiction liabilities upon long term uses. Thus, researchers around the globe are searching for newer, effective and safer drugs from natural resources. The present review emphasizes pharmacological reports on anticonvulsant plants, plant products and formulations. Various chemical constituents (with structures) isolated from different plants responsible for anticonvulsant activity and their possible mechanism of actions have been incorporated in this review. The review has been compiled using references from major databases like Chemical Abstracts, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Abstracts, PubMed, Scirus, Google scholar, Open J Gate, Scopus, Science Direct and Online Journals, and includes 599 references. Preliminary anticonvulsant activity studies have been carried out on crude extracts of traditonally used and medicinally promising plants. Such plants need to be explored properly with a view to isolate anticonvulsant constituents, and to evaluate their possible mode of actions.