22EFFECT OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF PIPER NIGRUM L. FRUITS ON MIDAZOLAM INDUCED HYPNOSIS IN RATSAlthough herbal medicines are generally perceived as safe when used alone at the recommended dose and duration, there are increasing evidences of herb-drug interaction which may lead to serious adverse reactions or failure of therapy with conventional medicines. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ethanolic extract of Piper nigrum L. fruits on Midazolam (substrate for CYP3A4) induced hypnosis. In this study we investigated the effect of subchronic treatment of 100mg/kg of extract p.o. for five consecutive days on an i.p. hypnotic dose (50mg/kg) of Midazolam in rats (n=5). Sleeping time is significantly increased in extract pretreated group to 35% to that of control value of Midazolam induced hypnosis without affecting the sleep latency. The current study demonstrates that ethanolic extract of Piper nigrum L. fruits might have inhibited metabolism of the drug by inhibiting CYP3A4 as the efficacy of the drug is increased.ghayasssrcp@gmail.comResearch312013Piper nigrum L,Midazolam,Hypnotic IndicesMd.Gayasuddin,Md.Parvez,Mohd Iqbal,G.VenkataiahSmt. Sarojini Ramulamma College of Pharmacy, Palamuru University, Mahaboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India,Smt. Sarojini Ramulamma College of Pharmacy, Palamuru University, Mahaboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India,Smt. Sarojini Ramulamma College of Pharmacy, Palamuru University, Mahaboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India,Smt. Sarojini Ramulamma College of Pharmacy, Palamuru University, Mahaboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India