Nootropic (medhya) effect of Bhāvita Śaṇkhapuṣpī tablets: A clinical appraisal

BACKGROUND: Nootropic (medhya) potential of śaṅkhapuṣpī (Convolvulus pluricaulis Choisy.) is reported in Ayurvedic literature and modern studies are now validating the same. In spite of plentiful preclinical researches already carried out during the past decades, only meager clinical efforts exploring its nootropic activity have been reported. Present clinical study is an attempt to evaluate the nootropic effect of Śaṅkhapuṣpī tablets. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the nootropic effect of śaṅkhapuṣpī tablets prepared by three Bhāvanā (levigation) of its cūrṇa (powder) with its own Svarasa (fresh juice). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty volunteers between the age 16 and 25 years participated in this single group pre-post study. Weschler's memory scale was adopted to collect data before (pre) and after (post) intervention period (2 months). Paired t-test was used for analyzing the data. RESULTS: In auditory immediate test and delayed test, 41.03% and 48% improvement was found which statistically highly significant (<0.001). In visual immediate and delayed test 32.5% and 44.87% improvement was found respectively, which shows highly significant result (<0.001). CONCLUSION: Results reveal that śaṅkhapuṣpī tablet shown highly significant results in improving memory, especially in long term memory loss in younger age group.