Benzimidazole Group of Drugs Possess Significant Anticonvulsant Properties in Experimentally Induced Animal Models

Objective: To study the anticonvulsant properties of benzimidazole group of drugs in experimentally induced animal models.

Methods: In this study, experimental animals were induced convulsions by two different Methods and which included, electrically induced with the help of electroconvulsiometer with the placement of electrodes over the ear and the subcutaneous (SC) administration of pentylenetetrazole (pTZ) in the dose of 70 mg/kg BW.

The study included a total of eight different groups with group I: control for PTZ, group II: standard for PTZ (sodium valproate), group III: benzimidazole group drug 1 for PTZ, group IV: benzimidazole group drug-2 for PTZ, group V: control for MES, group VI: standard for MES (diphenylhydantoin), group VII: benzimidazole group drug-1 for MES, and group VIII: benzimidazole group drug-2 for MES. Statistical analysis was carried with the help of statistical software (GraphPad Instat version 3.06), 32 bit for Windows and Results were expressed as mean/median ± SE.

Results: The Results of the study indicated statistically significant rise in onset of seizures (in seconds) in groups III and IV when compared with the control (group I) in chemically induced convulsion model with p-value < 0.05. It was also noted that the duration of seizures significantly declined in both the experimental test drug groups (i.e., groups III and IV) when compared with the control group (group I) with p-value less than 0.05. Similarly, the total number of seizures in 1 hour also reduced significantly in both the experimental test drug groups (i.e., benzimidazole group drugs 1 and 2) in comparison to the group I (p < 0.05). The study Results confirmed that, for all the above four parameters, there was no statistically significant difference seen among the standard and experimental test drug groups with p-value of more than 0.05. In MES model, there was statistically significant decline in total scores of seizures in both the experimental test drug groups when compared with the control group for MES model (p < 0.01). The above said parameter was in comparison to the standard drug in group VI with respect to the experimental test drug groups (groups VII and VIII, respectively, with [p > 0.05]).

Conclusion: The benzimidazole group of drugs had significant anticonvulsant properties in experimentally induced animal models.