GHRITA KALPANA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CLASSICAL FORMULATION- ASHWAGANDHADHYA GHRITA: A GERIATRIC PERSPECTIVE

Ghrita Kalpana is an important Kalpana of Ayurveda, used both to maintain the health and to treat and cure diseases. It has a wide range of application being used internally as well as externally. It is a lipid containing Kalpana and as is known lipid containing formulations easily pass through the bbb-blood brain barrier thereby effective and acts on the central nervous system. Moreover, Ghrita has brhman (nourishing and body mass enriching) and jivaniya properties helping towards constituting a healthy body and thereby counteracting the catabolic effects of old age. Ashwagandhadya ghrita is a classical formulation from Cakradutta, containing go-ghrita, go-dugdha, Ashwagandha kalka (paste) and Ashwagandha kwatha (decoction). These ingredients have Medhya, brhman, jivaniya, rasayan etc. properties and so it was studied to see whether this formulation has nootropic effect in swiss albino mice and was subjected to analysis of HPTLC and GC-MS to study the active constituents. Results showed that it had significant memory enhancing effect on Swiss albino mice. Analysis showed it contains Withanoside IV and Withanone -both of these are associated with neuroprotective property and are useful in learning and memory and in ameliorating dementia as per different studies-and GC-MS study showed that there is presence of omega 3 fatty acids like Linolenic acid, EPA (Eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (Docosahexanoic acid) which also are useful for functioning of the brain. Hence, in light of above this formulation needs further research to see its potential in geriatric conditions like dementia, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s etc. and also to maintain mental health in geriatrics.