ANTIDEPRESSANT-LIKE ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF WITHANIA QARAITICA IN MICE

Objective: The goal of the present study was to assess the antidepressant-like action of Withania qaraitica in two behavioral animal models, the forced-swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) in mice. Methods: Witania qaraitica methanolic extract was prepared by the maceration. The antidepressant activity was measured by the forced-swimming test (FST) using C57BL/6 mice and the tail suspension test (TST) using BALB/c mice. Mice were divided into three groups: control (DMSO), standard (citalopram and desipramine), and Withania qaraitica methanolic extract (n = 6 per group). Drugs were injected (1 ml/100 g) intraperitoneally (i.p.). Data were evaluated using analysis of variance, followed by LSD post-hoc tests, where * p < 0.001 was considered significantly different from the vehicle control. The data are expressed as mean±SEM. Results: In both the FST and the TST, antidepressant positive controls citalopram and desipramine significantly reduced the time of immobility compared to vehicle control (p<0.001). The methanolic extract of Withania qaraitica at the dose of 40 mg/kg significantly reduced the immobility times with respect to vehicle control as well as lower doses of the same extract (10 and 20 mg/kg) in FST (p<0.001). In a similar fashion, the methanolic extract of Withania qaraitica at the dose of 40 mg/kg significantly decreased the duration of immobility in TST (p<0.005). Conclusion: The current results show the antidepressant-like activity of Withania qaraitica in mice. This observation warrants additional studies to identify the underlining mechanism by which Withania qaraitica  produces antidepressant-like effects