Evaluations of antidepressant activity of Anacyclus pyrethrum root extract

Abstract

The present study was designed to screen antidepressant activity of Anacyclus pyrethrum (AP) root extract. An experiment was designed by different method such as Locomotor activity, Haloperidol-induced catalepsy, Forced swim test (FST), Tail suspension test (TST), Clonidine-induced hypothermia and Reserpine-induced hypothermia on Swiss male albino mice. Standard root extract of Anacyclus pyrethrum (AP root extract) showed an increase in ambulatory behaviour indicating a stimulant effect of the photoactometer. AP root
extract produces a significant antidepressant effect in both FST and TST as they reduced the immobility. AP root extract was found to be effective in reversing hypothermia produced by clonidine and reserpine. In our study, we found that AP root extract inhibited haloperidol-induced catalepsy. These study suggest that AP root extract might produce antidepressant effect by interaction with adrenergic and dopamine receptor thereby increasing the level of noradrenaline and dopamine in brains of mice.
Key words: Anacyclus pyrethrum, antidepressant activity, forced swim test and tail suspension test