Development and standardization of poly herbal memory enhancing formulations using nanodelivery

Abstract

The present study was designed to develop and standardize a polyherbal memory enhancing formulation using nanodelivery. Bacopa monnieri (B), Convolvulus pluricaulis (C) and Withania somnifera (W), well known Medhya Rasayna drugs mentioned in Ayurveda, were used in this study. Drugs were standardized on basis of their powder microscopic and physicochemical parameters. A simple, effective, and rapid reverse phase HPLC method for simultaneous analysis of scopoletin, withaferin A, bacoside A3, bacopaside II, jujubogenin and bacosaponin C in the mixture of extracts of Convolvulus pluricaulis, Withania somnifera and Bacopa monnieri was developed and validated. The developed method was accurate, precise, robust, rapid and selective for simultaneous estimation of all the chosen biomarkers. Extraction procedure was also optimized on basis of the extracted marker content (determined by HPLC. It was evident that amongst all the combinations evaluated at different dose levels, W:B:C (1:2:2) at 75 mg/kg (also designated as combination 4) showed maximum attenuation of scopolamine induced memory impairment and was further used in making nano formulation. The solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were prepared by hot high pressure homogenization technique, resulting in particles size below 200 nm. The other characterization techniques like differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) confirms the incorporation of the extract into the lipid and SLN formation (F-SLN). The prepared SLNs were also evaluated for their effect against scopolamine and STZ induced memory impairment at three oral dose levels of 5, 15 and 30 mg/kg, referred as F(5), F(15) and F(30) along with individual extracts and combination 4. From the result of behavioural and biochemical studies in both models, it was evident that amongst all the treatment groups, F(15) showed maximum effectiveness against scopolamine.