POTENTIAL DRUG INTERACTION BETWEEN BACOPA MONNIERA AND FLUOXETINE: A LAB STUDY 

ABSTRACT

Recently, the interactions of herbal medicine with synthetic drugs came in to focus of particular interest. Herbal medicine may cause significant toxicity with additive, synergistic or antagonistic effects when taken in combination with allopathic drugs. To investigate the potential interaction between Bacopa monniera extract (BME) and fluoxetine (FXT) on 2-week, chronic, oral, once daily administration in rats and mice. Healthy, male albino, Wistar rats and mice were divided in to eight groups of six each. cheap trx for sale Control group-I was administered distilled water. Group II received drug FXT 20mg/kg/day. Group III, IV and V received standardized water soluble BME containing 20% of total bacosides in doses of 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg/day respectively, while Groups VI and VII and VIII received combinations of FXT along with BME in three different doses for 2 weeks. Spontaneous motor activity (SMA), motor coordination, forced swimming test (FST), tail suspension test (TST) and chronic fatigue tests (CFT) were evaluated. Biochemical parameters were checked in blood and homogenized brain tissue samples. Compared to control groups, test groups VI, VII and VIII showed dose dependent reduction in SMA, improvement in motor coordination and a significant reduction in immobility in FST, and CFT With a significantly increased levels of serotonin and noradrenaline in homogenized brain tissue samples of animals receiving combination of BME along with fluoxetine compared to that of control and the groups treated with either BME or fluoxetine alone. There is a possibility of interaction between BME and FXT. The combination proved to be therapeutically synergistic. Precautions are advised while using this combination. Potential interactions of Bacopa monniera with newer antidepressants are matter of further study.

Keywords: Herbal drug interactions, Bacopa monniera, synthetic antidepressants.