Centella asiatica (linn) induced behavioural changes during growth spurt period in neonatal rats

A characteristic feature of animals and particularly of humans is the ability to alter their behaviour on the basis of experience or learning. Learning is an acquisition and storage of information as a consequence of experience. Memory is a relatively permanent storage form of the learned information [1]. The hippocampus and amygdala are two important regions involved in learning and memory. In the ayurvedic system of medicine “Medhya drugs” are a group of medicines known to act on the nervous system. In the texts of Ayurveda, many medhya drugs have been claimed to improve mental ability [2]. Some of the drugs, which act on the nervous system, include Bacopa monnieri, Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Jyotishmati (Celastrus panniculatus) Shankapushpi (Clitoria ternatea), Jatamansi (Nardostachys jatamansi), Vacha (Acorus calamus) and Mandukaparni (Brahmi, Centella asiatica) [3–6]. Among these, Centella asiatica (CeA) is a herb growing in wet and marshy places throughout the country. It has been used in ayurvedic preparations either in the fresh or in the extract form [2]. Centella asiatica is shown to be very useful in improving learning and memory [4–6]. It is also used as a brain tonic for promoting brain growth and improving memory [7]. In addition, the plant is also used in mentally retarded children to improve general mental ability [5, 8–10]. Though the fresh juice of CeA has been claimed to improve learning and memory in different clinical studies, there are no direct neurological studies to show the action of fresh leaf juice of this plant on improvement of behaviour especially learning and memory in neonatal rats. Thus this study was designed to find the effect of CeA fresh leaf juice treatment on learning and memory in neonatal rats. This experiment was carried out on neonatal rats, since, active brain growth occurs in them during pre and post-weaning period (growth spurt period) [11].