In vivo antidepressant-like effect of ethanolic extract of sida rhombifolia leaves in ICR albino mice
Abstract
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the potential antidepressant-like effect of the ethanolic extract of Sida rhombofilia leaves. This is in response to the prevalence of major depressive disorder which affects 21% of the population and the adverse effects associated with taking antidepressants. The ethanolic extract of S. rhombolifia was administered to male Institute of Cancer research (ICR) albino mice in 650 mg/kg, 750 mg/kg and 850 mg/kg doses. The mice were subjected to antidepressant screening methods (i.e. forced swimming test and tail suspension test) wherein the duration of immobility was related to behavioral despair. A decrease in the duration of immobility indicated antidepressant-like effect as observed in the standard antidepressant fluoxetine (% immobility: 35.18±4.90 in FST and 19.444±1.61 in TST) to which all the diffrerent doses of the extract were compared. Results revealed that all three doses decreased the immobility of mice in both tests as compared to the control (p<0.05). However, only the 850 mg/kg dose (% immobility: 37.96±2.46 in FST and 18.52±0.92 in TST) showed a significant immobility decrease (p<0.01) which was similar to the results of the standard. Thus, the antidepressant-like effect could be dose-dependent. However, further studies on the isolation and purification of the active compound/s in the S. rhombofilia ethanolic extract are necessary in order to support the antidepressant-like effect observed in this study.