| The antidepressant-and anxiolytic effects of asarone (AN) were investigated by means of behavioral pharmacology for the first time. The other central-acting properties of AN were also examined to see whether clear differences could be observed between it and diazepam (DZ).AN (3.5,7 mg/kg) reduced the duration of immobility in the forced swimming test. AN (3.5,7 mg/kg) produced a reduction in immobility in the tail suspension test. Ptosis and dyskinesia in reserpine-treated mice were significantly inhibited by treatment with AN (7,14 mg/kg) and AN 3.5mg/kg, respectively. AN (3.5,7,14 mg/kg) also produced a significant inhibition of hypothermia produced by reserpine in mice.In the elevated plus-maze test, AN 3.5 mg/kg increased the percentage of open arm entries and the percentage of open arm time. AN 7 mg/kg prolonged the time spent in light area and increased the box/open field transitions without altering the total locomotor activity of the animals in the light/dark box. AN (3.5,7 mg/kg) caused increase in exploratory head-dipping in the hole-board test. AN (3.5,7 mg/kg) significantly increased number of entries into and time spent in the central arena in the open field test. Marble-burying behavior was inhibited by AN at dose of 14 and 28 mg/kg. AN (3.5,7,14 mg/kg) significantly increased the food intake in a 5-minute period. In general, the results seen above indicate that AN, at specific doses, possesses a wide range of anxiolytic properties in different anxiety models.At doses eliciting the antidepressant-and anxiolytic effects, AN produce neither influence on motor activity and pentobarbital sodium-induced sleeping. The results of the traction test and the inclined plane test showed that AN did not impair muscle tone. These results suggest that AN has no diazepam-like side-effects, such as over-sedation, muscle relaxation and barbiturate potentiation.In conclusion, these findings indicate that AN exhibits an antidepressant and anxiolytic-like effects at given dosage. |
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