Introduction: Argemone mexicana belongs to family Papaveraceae. A. mexicana is used by traditional healers in Mali to treat malaria, externally in the treatment of cataracts and internally in the treatment of dropsy and jaundice. Objective of the study: The present study was undertaken for investigating and validating anti-convulsant activity of chloroform, ethanol and aqueous extracts of Argemone Mexicana (200mg/kg ) in swiss albino mice in comparison with that of  standard drug Diazepam (4mg/kg i.p). Methods: Extracts was evaluated for its                    anti-convulsant activity and compared with control and standard drug (diazepam) using MES and PTZ method. Mice of either sex were taken and divided into five groups of 6 animals each. First group was considered as control, second as standard (Diazepam), third, fourth and fifth as test group (with three different extracts of the plant) and all the drugs were given intra-peritoneally. Results: Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed that aerial parts of Argemone Mexicana extracts contained triterpenoids, flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins and tannins. All the three studied extracts have shown significant anti-convulsant activity in both the models. However, the chloroform extract (200mg/kg) of A. Mexicana has shown highly significant activity (p<0.01) by reduction in the hind limb tonic extension in the MES test in a dose dependent manner. In the PTZ model also, the extract significantly (p<0.01) reduced the duration of clonic convulsions as well as delay the onset of seizures in a dose dependent manner. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that Argemone mexicana has significant anticonvulsant activity possibly through a GABA-ergic interaction.

Keywords: Anti-convulsant, Pentylenetetrazole(PTZ), Maximal electroshock (MES)