Herbal Therapy: Chaste Tree Berry The Best Anticonvulsant Herbal Medicine

Kyle J. Norton, Master of Nutrients
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published on line, including world wide health, ezine articles, article base, healthblogs, selfgrowth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
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Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bio science, ISSN 0975-6299.


The use of plants for healing purposes has been predated long before the existence of  modern medicine. Herbal plants has formed a fundamental source for conventional medicine in discovery of single ingredient medication, including aspirin (from willow bark), quinine (from cinchona bark), and morphine (from the opium poppy)......

A study conducted by a respectable institution suggested that Chaste Tree Berry exhibited anticonvulsant activity in patients with seizures.

Chaste tree berry is a species of Vitex agnus-castus, genus Vitex, belonging to the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, used in herbal medicine for thousands of year as anaphrodisiac herb and considered as Queen herb in treating menstrual problems and discomforts.

In a study using animal model of maximal electroshock seizures (MES) and induced seizures (MES) by administrated pentylenetetarazole (PTZ), intake of ethanolic leaf extract of Vitex-negundo, at doses of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg p.o, exerted a significant of postictal depression, an altered state of consciousness after an epileptic seizure in the dose of 1000 mg/kg body weight in comparison to control but no effects in other applications.

At doses of (1000 mg/kg, po), the ethanolic leaf extract exhibited a 50% half life protection in chronic seizures after 24-hour injection against PTZ induced seizures. Researchers also found that the efficacy of the extract at that doses is the result of valporic acid, a major ingredient found in Chaste tree berry.

Dr. Tandon VR and co author Dr. Gupta RK. of the study said, " The anticonvulsant activity of Vitex-negundo has not been found equi-effective with standard drugs".

Further more, because of the potentiation of diphenylhydantoin and valporic acid isolated Vitex-negundo displayed a significant effect in treating animal model, the extract may be used as an adjuvant therapy along with standard anticonvulsants.

Additionally, according to the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, hydrophilic extract of Vitex agnus castus fruit (Vitex) administered doses (60, 120 or 180 mg/kg) showed a strong anti convulsant activity even at low dose (60 mg/kg) of Vitex by increasing the after discharge(AD) threshold and decrease the after discharge duration ( ADD) and and stage 5 duration (S5D).

Promisingly, at the highest does, the extract inhibited significantly seizure stage (P<0.01) and reduced or prevented epileptic activity as demonstrated by reduction of ADD and S5D (length of convulsion) in a dose dependent manner.

More importantly, methanolic extract (ME) of the leaves of V. negundo salso showed to process the  analgesic properties and potentiated analgesia demonstrated by morphine and pethidine in protection against strychnine and leptazole induced convulsions.

Taking together, Chaste Tree Berry may be one of next generation therapeutic herbal medicine consisted a strong effect for prevention and treatment of seizure as a result of abundant phytochemicals, but intake of large amount should taken with care to reduce risk of toxicity.

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Sources
(1) An experimental evaluation of anticonvulsant activity of Vitex-negundo by Tandon VR1, Gupta RK.(PubMed)
(2) The antiepileptic activity of Vitex agnus castus extract on amygdala kindled seizures in male rats by Saberi M1, Rezvanizadeh A, Bakhtiarian A.(PubMed)
(2) CNS activity of Vitex negundo Linn. in mice by Gupta M1, Mazumder UK, Bhawal SR.(PubMed)