Ever wondered how ayurvedic memory enhancing pills work? Don’t worry anymore; the question is being explored by three research institutes in a project sanctioned by the Department of Science and Technology recently.
Ever wondered how ayurvedic memory enhancing pills work? Don’t worry anymore; the question is being explored by three research institutes in a project sanctioned by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) recently.
The project is undertaken by Haffkine Institute of Training, Research and Testing, Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT) at Vashi under the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) overseen by the Tata Memorial hospital.
“While the ayurvedic texts do speak of 10-15 plants or medharasyanas that enhance the memory, there has been no research on how the memory enhancers work. This project will focus on mechanism based screening of ayurvedic drugs to know how they work or their mechanism of action. We will also check on whether these drugs work at all,” said Dr Abhay Chowdhary, director of Haffkine institiute who received a letter for sanctioning the project on Tuesday.
He further explained that they are trying to understand which plant or its extract activates neuro-receptors in the brain and whether all plants work in the same way.
“This project has many economic implications. It will impact a business worth 100 billion dollars,” added Chowdhary.
Dr PU Deshmukh, the dean of RA Podar Ayurved Medical College said, “We used to only follow the ayurvedic pharmacopoeia so far.”
Chowdhary said that the project will use the radio tracer method using radioactive isotopes which will be mixed with urea and fed to the plants.
“Through optimal imaging system, the scientists will be able to localise the parts which are stimulated by these plants,” said Dr Chowdhary. He added that they would use the same methodology using transgenic animals (genetically modified animals).
“We will use a mouse model which contracts Alzheimer’s disease in four months. We will see if the feeding of these plants or their extracts is able to postpone the disease.”
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