History
ALERTOL is a standardised preparation extracted from Bacopa Monnieri, the Brahmi plant, which contains an optimum concentration of two key ingredients known as Bacosides A and B. The Brahmi plant has a long history of use in India and is specifically mentioned in the three Ayurvedic texts: Charak Samhita, Susruta Samhita and Bhav Prakash Nighantu. It is also described as a compound preparation in Ashtanga Hridaya.

In the Charak Samhita (C.100 A.D.) it was prescribed as a nerve tonic and for cases of mental anxiety, weak intellect and lack of concentration. The Susruta Samhita (C.200 A.D.) describes the Brahmi plant as being effective in the maintenance of intellect and memory. The Bhavaprakasa Nighantu (Indian Materia Medica of Shri Bhavmisra, C. 1500 A.D.) further describes the Brahmi plant as a brain tonic effective in the maintenance of vigour and intellect.

Early Experiments
The Brahmi plant has been used in India as a popular brain tonic for almost 3000 years. Because of its reputation as a memory enhancing plant, it has attracted the attention of modern Indian chemists for nearly 50 years. The first report of chemical investigations into the leaves of the Brahmi plant was made in 1944 but it wasn’t until 1960, when the Centre for Drug Research, India (CDRI) took an interest in the plant, that any serious chemical research was undertaken. A systematic analysis of the constituents of the plant was published by R.P. Rastogi and his co-workers in three parts in 1963, 65 and 67 in the Indian Journal of Chemistry.

The neuropharmacological investigations into the Brahmi plant to confirm the traditional claims of memory maintenance was published in 1982 in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology by H.K. Singh and B.N. Dhawan. The extract of the plant, when tested on rats, showed better mental acquisition, improved memory retention and delayed extinction in the brightness discrimination reaction response test. Similarly, in an active conditioned flight  response  test, the  animals  treated   with  Brahmi extracts  showed