Epileptic patients need to take medicine for the rest of their lives. Teratogenic effect of antiepileptic drugs must be extensively screened and investigated utilizing animal model organisms. Drosophila is a great model for efficiently screening prospective therapeutic compounds and determining whether or not they are teratogenic. Children exposed to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy had a greater percentage of malformations than those who were not. Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most widely prescribed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Congenital and developmental malformations have been related to CBZ therapy during pregnancy. Plant extracts are widely used in traditional medicine to form the foundation of health care and to cure various illnesses. Withania somnifera (W. somnifera) is an anticonvulsant herbal medicine. The present study is intended to evaluate the teratogenicity of W. somnifera and CBZ in Drosophila paralytic mutant. As a wild-type control, Drosophila Oregon-R strain were employed. The results indicate that CBZ administration increases the frequency of wing deformities in both Drosophila strains in a dose-dependent manner. However, W. somnifera at various concentrations is a safe therapeutic potent with no teratogenicity while treating epilepsy in Drosophila paralytic mutants.

Keywords : Teratogenicity, Drosophila paralytic mutant, Withania somnifera, carbamazepine.