Screening of Antianxiety Activity of Abies pindrow Royle Aerial Parts

Abstract

Abies pindrow Royle (Himalayan Silver Fir; Pinaceae) has been traditionally used for the treatment for anxiety but the plant has not been systematically investigated to validate its traditional claims. Thus, it was planned to investigate antianxiety activity of various extracts and fractions of A. pindrow aerial parts using elevated plus maze model (EPM). Properly identified A. pindrow aerial parts were successively and exhaustively extracted using solvents in increasing order of polarity viz., n-hexane, chloroform, methanol and water. All crude extracts were subjected to antianxiety activity at the doses of 100, 200 or 400 mg/kg, p.o. in mice. Efficacy of A. pindrow was statistically compared with the standard anxiolytic drug, diazepam (2 mg/kg, i.p.). Amongst various extracts, chloroform and methanol extract exhibited significant antianxiety activity with respect to control, and statistically equivalent to the standard drug at the dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. The bioactive methanol extract was partitioned successively using solvents in increasing order of polarity viz., n-hexane, ethyl acetate and 1-butanol. All fractions were also subjected to antianxiety activity at the doses of 25 or 50 mg/kg, p.o. in mice. Only ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) exhibited significant antianxiety activity equivalent to the standard drug at the dose 50 mg/kg. Present studies scientifically validated traditional claims of A. pindrow for antianxiety activity. Flavonoids of A. pindrow aerial parts have been suggested to play role in treating anxiety disorders.

An Overview on Medicinal Plants with Potential Antidepressant Activity

“…Flavonoids and terpenoids are the main chemical constituents which exhibit anxiolytic properties of the aerial parts of the plant. Study on Methanolic extract and Ethyl Acetate fraction of Abies pindrow showed significant reduction in immobility parameter in forced swim test but no locomotive behavior increased as seen in open field, which confirms the antidepressant quality 23 . The studies also recommended that the plant be a suitable means of treating depression 24 .…”

Antiamnesic Activity of Extracts and Fraction of Desmodium Gangeticum

“…Antiamnesic activity of D. gangeticum roots, one of the highly reputed plants of Ayurveda, was evaluated employing widely used model, i.e., EPM. The EPM model was chosen since these are effective, cheap, simple, less time consuming, and require no preliminary training to the mice and do not cause much discomfort to the animals while handling (Kumar & Kumar, 2015).…”

Evaluation of Anti-Anxiety Effect of Brassica oleracea L. Extracts in Experimental Animals

“…[8][9][10] Many plants containing flavonoids are reported to possess anxiolytic potential. [11][12] Some of the plants containing flavonoids demonstrating antianxiety activity are Abies pindrow, 13 Calotropis gigantean, 14 Matricaria recutita, 15 Gelsemium sempervirens, 16 Medicago sativa, 17 Passiflora coerulea, 18 Passiflora incarnate, 19 Tilia Americana, 20 Turnera aphrodisiaca. [21][22] Flavonoids which possess anxiolytic effects include apigenin, 23 chrysin, kaempferol, 24 quercetin.…”