EVALUATION OF ANTI-DEPRESSANT EFFECT OF ACACIA NILOTICA LINN LEAVES EXTRACT IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS

A chronic illness that affects a person’s mood, thoughts, physical health, and behavior patterns is considered depression. Currently used anti-depressant drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and tricyclic anti-depressants (TCA) are showing various side effects and thus, the search for a new anti-depressant herb without side effects is important. The intend of the present study was to evaluate the anti-depressant effect of methanol, chloroform and aqueous extract Acacia nilotica leaves at doses of 200 mg/kg in experimental animals. In-vivo screening models like Forced Swim Test (FST), Tail Suspension Test (TST) and Spontaneous Locomotor activity (SLMA) were used to assess the anti-depressant effects of the methanol, chloroform, and aqueous extracts of Acacia nilotica Linn. The dried-up leaves were subjected for shade drying and size reduced to powder and extracted by soxhlet apparatus. The extracts were subjected to phytochemical tests and the carbohydrate, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides and steroids were found to be present. Imipramine (30 mg/kg, i.p) was used as the reference standard, and it showed significant anti-depressant activity in mice. The significant anti-depressant effects of Acacia nilotica could be due to the strong and effective concentration of the active constituent. In the FST model, MEAN (200 mg/kg,po) showed high significant decreases in immobility time (137.3 ± 1.67**). In TST model, MEAN (200 mg/kg, po) showed highly significant decreases in immobility time (147.50 ± 1.19***). In SLMA showed less significant increases in locomotor activity scores (228.2 ± 4.37*). From the literature surveys as well experiments performed, it can be understood that Acacia nilotica does pose anti-depressant property.