Abstract
Male adult albino mice were administered potentized Nux vomica 30 c (Nux v). The drug was mixed with sterile distilled water at 0.05 ml/2 ml water and given at 0.05 ml/individual. Control consisted of blank ethanol solution. Ethanolic extract from the seeds of
Strychnos nuxvomica
L was mixed with 90% ethanol 1:100 and sonicated for 30 s at 20 KHz. This was further diluted and sonicated in 30 steps to produce Nux v 30 c. Six hours after treatment, mice were given 25% ethanol i.p. at 4 g/kg body wt. The duration of sleep time starting from the loss of righting reflex until its restoration was recorded for each mouse. The duration of sleep time with ethanol was recorded in four sessions for the same group of mice with an interval of 10 d between sessions. Treatments: session 1 with control solution, 2 with
Nux v
(oral), 3 with control solution and 4 with
Nux v
(i.p.).
Nux v
(oral) produced the shortest sleep time as compared to other treatments which did not differ from each other significantly with respect to sleep time.
In another experiment Nux v 30 c was prepared with distilled water and pure absolute ethanol by the above process of successive dilution and sonication. These two preparations together with
Nux v
30 c, prepared with 90% ethanol, were tested on mice for their effect on alcohol-induced sleep time. Only
Nux v
30 c prepared with 90% ethanol was effective in reducing the sleep time in mice. It is concluded that the solution structure of ethanol/water mixture carries the specificity of the
Nux v
at ultra high dilution. It is further concluded that the effect is mediated through oral receptors.
Keywords
ethanol - righting reflex -
Strychnos nuxvomica
- high dilution - homeopathic medicine - aqueous ethanol - solution structure - oral receptor
