In vivo antidepressant-like effect of ethanolic extract of sida rhombifolia leaves in ICR albino mice

Erica Jane S. Eje
Jerica Hope V. Frani
Maria Erika Francesca S. Gawaran

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.