Background As a result of aberrant neural development, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by complicated behavioural and memory issues. The dearth of knowledge about the actual etiopathology of autism makes treatment extremely difficult. There is a collection of plants known as "Medhya drugs" in the Ayurvedic system of medicine because of their capacity to boost brain and neuron-related activities including learning and memory. Clitoria ternatea L. is a "Medhya drug" that has been shown to improve memory. In this study, the ethanolic root extract of Clitoria ternatea L. was evaluated for its neuroprotective effects against propionic acid induced neuroinflammation in autistic rat modells. Method Adult Wistar rats were segregated into 4 groups and administered the vehicle/extract for 28 days. Induction of autism was done by intra-cerebro-ventricular infusion of propionic acid between 22nd and 28th day of the study. During this infusion period, rats were subjected to various in vivo behaviour and memory evaluation methods by performing actophotometer test and Morris water maze test. On 29th day of the study, animals were sacrified to get the brain tissues. Extracted brain tissues were utilised for the estimation of various neuroinflammatory markers levels (TNF-α and IL-6), immunohistochemical analysis of neuroinflammation, and histopathological analysis. Results Pre-treatment of rats with extract at two dose levels (250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg) significantly (p < 0.0001) reduced the neuroinflammation, memory and cognitive impairment produced by the propionic acid in a dose dependent manner. Conclusion Study results showed the potent neuroprotective effects of Clitoria ternatea L. roots against the propionc induced autistic neuroinflammation.

Medicinal plants act as a vital source in improving health and overcoming the side effects of modern-day medicine. Many evidence-based reports are present in the literature about the benefits of medicinal plants. Clitoria ternatea L. belongs to the family Fabaceae and is known to be one of the important Ayurvedic medicinal plant whose uses are specified mainly for the modification of nervous system activities. ‘Medhyarasayana’ is one of the Ayurvedic formulations which is used to promote the intellectual capacity, revive the body and nervous tissue, Clitoria ternatea serves as a major constituent of ‘Medhyarasayana.’ Identification and characterization of active metabolites of C. ternatea will help to isolate the important phytoconstituents responsible for the central nervous system effects, isolated components can be utilized in future for the formulation of new medicine for various neurodegenerative disorders. In the present study, the phytochemical evaluation of the ethanolic root extract of C. ternatea (EECT) was performed using the HR-LCMS technique. Preliminary qualitative phytoconstituents analysis showed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, saponins, steroids, carbohydrate, protein, flavonoids and triterpenoids in the ethanolic root extract. Almost 42 compounds were identified when the EECT subjected to HR-LCMS analysis.

Background Autism spectrum disorder is primarily characterized by complex behavioral and altered memory as a consequence of neuronal development abnormalities. The treatment of autism is highly challenging because of the lack of knowledge about its exact etiopathology. In the Ayurvedic system of medicine, there are group of plants named ‘Medhya drugs' because of their ability to improve brain- and neuron-related activities like learning and memory. Clitoria ternatea L. is one of the listed ‘Medhya drugs’ which have been proved for its memory enhancement effects; in the present study, the ethanolic root extract of Clitoria ternatea L. was evaluated for its neuroprotective ability against propionic acid-induced memory and behavior impairments in an autistic rat model. The variation in behavior and memory were investigated by utilizing different procedures like rat elevated plus maze and novel object recognition test. In vitro assays for the estimations of glutamate and serotonin were also performed in isolated rat brain tissue homogenate. Results The object recognition and elevated plus maze test were showed the promising effects of Clitoria ternatea L. ethanolic root extract against the propionic acid-induced autism. In this study, the propionic acid infused rats (Group II) fail to recognize and explore the novel object compared to Group I (infused with phosphate-buffered saline) animals; extract treatment at two different doses (250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg) (Groups III & IV, respectively) prevented these damage significantly (p < 0.001) so that extract-treated groups showed significant improvement in novel object recognition in a dose-dependent manner. Similarly, the effect of extract treatment on learning and memory of rats was investigated using transfer latency as a parameter for acquisition and retention of memory process on elevated plus maze; this further proved the memory enhancement ability of Clitoria ternatea L. Extract treatment also significantly reduced the concentration of different neurotransmitters like serotonin and glutamate in rat brain homogenate (Groups III &IV) in a dose-dependent manner as compared with the Group II. Conclusion The ethanolic root extract of Clitoria ternatea L. proved to be effective against propionic acid-induced memory and behavior impairments in an autistic rat model.